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New Delhi: An Indian company has launched a smartphone priced US $3.66 (Rs 251) that has 4-inch display, 1 GB RAM, 8 GB internal memory and dual-SIM option.
The new company Ringing Bells, an agro-commodity trading company, from the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, has said the Android smartphone named Freedom 251 is world's cheapest device.
The smartphone costs less than a 4GB Class 6 Micro SD card, a mobile phone charger and headphone (all cost around $3.5) of multinational brands. It would be a boon to India's 1.321 Billion population that is world's second largest cellphone market.
According to US-based Visual Networking Index, there were 590.3 million (47% of India's population) cellphone users in 2014, up 18% from 500 million (40% of India's population) in 2013.
The VNI report says, "The number of smartphones grew 54% to 140 million in 2014." VNI forecasts the number of smartphones will grow 4.7-fold between 2014 and 2019, to 651 million."
There will be 895.6 million (67% of India's population) mobile users by 2019, up from 590.3 million in 2014, a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 8.7%.
This shows the stakes are high for cellphone manufacturers with more than 50% of Indian population without smartphones. A regular 3G device in the market currently costs around $ 43.81 (Rs 3,000) which is considered aggressive pricing by popular smartphone brands.
Small wonder, Freedom 251's launch has triggered protests from Indian mobile phone manufacturers association alleging unfair pricing. The group has urged the Indian government to probe the costing of the cheap phone.
Expressing concern over the launch of a smartphone at price as low as Rs 251, mobile industry body Indian Cellular Association has complained to Indian Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to probe the issue, saying the rate could not be below $ 51.10 (Rs 3,500) even after a subsidised sale.
Industry experts are sceptical about the quality of the new smartphone. One reviewer said, "It's an unknown brand with no track record in electronics, so it is difficult to ascertain the quality of the final product and its after-sales service."
(1 US$= Rs 68.48).
