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A LITTLE-KNOWN INDIAN company will today launch a smartphone believed to be the cheapest in the world, targeting a market already dominated by low-cost handsets.
Set to be priced at under 500 rupees (€6.56), domestic handset maker Ringing Bells’ Freedom 251 smartphone is about 1% of the price of the latest Apple iPhone.
Ringing Bells was set up in September 2015 and began selling mobile phones via its website a few weeks ago under its Bell brand, a spokeswoman said.
“This is our flagship model and we think it will bring a revolution in the industry,” she told AFP.
Ringing Bells currently imports parts from overseas and assembles them in India but plans to make its phones domestically within a year, the spokeswoman said.
Cheap smartphone handsets, many of them Chinese-made, are readily available in the Indian market but domestic competitors are making inroads, with models selling for less than €20.
India is the world’s second-largest mobile market and notched up its billionth mobile phone subscriber in October, according to the country’s telecoms regulator.
But in poorer Indian states such as Bihar, “teledensity” – the penetration of telephone connections for every hundred people – is as low as 54%, with a stark urban-rural divide.
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Gas thing is we knowwwww we are being ripped off yet we still go and buy the name brands.
I don’t. I use a huawei ascend g7. It beats any of the flagship phones & is only 40% of the price too. Huawei are a serious contender to watch out for this year in the smartphone market.
They have been. For a long time
Yeah sorry Graham, they’re a well established brand. And was the phone on a stand in the phone shop? Someone has already watched out for them. A few years back.
Companies like this are content to settle for more modest profits, while here companies target enormous profits. I remember many years ago an insurance company with a base in Ireland and the UK made a bigger profit here with less customers, even in the UK with more customers they were prepared to settle for a smaller profit.
Yes, we are being screwed big time, and this is one of the major reasons these companies and business will fight tooth and nail not to reveal their accounting figures.
I recently bought an Allview Viper Xplus. Better spec than iPhone and a quarter of the price. Highly recommend it. Will never buy a “branded” phone again
€6 ….. It’s £2.50 on the news …that’s some difference in exchange rate ..???
So the “journalists ” on this site do any research at all for story’s….. The name of the phone is 251 …. And that’s how much it costs .hence the name…. Jeez guys come on text book stuff ..
Specs? Just out of curiosity…
You’ll get them in specsavers.
Not for 6 quid though ;)
Sky news are saying cost is 251 r India which equates to £2.50 and runs lollipop and 32G .. 4 ” screen ..
The website (http://www.freedom251.com/) is saying 1.3 GHz Quadcore Processor with 1GB RAM and 8GB internal memory (expandable up to 32GB) and has Android 5.1 OS.
Not to be sniffed at.
Would be great for nights out.
DisTURBANly cheap….
Where do I apply for one
India
DoneDeal.in
500 rupees? It’s 251 rupess (and about 3.29) – hence the name!
In fairess though its probably hellish to use, imagine to touch response, the screen , the lag. Still great for 6 euro though. In the last 3 years i was gettings cheap phones, a $100 huwai, a $150 htc model, a cheaper galaxy model a d they do the job for a while, but when you use a do flagship model the difference is massive and its hard to imagine going back.
I imagine the price is on a par with the quality. That’s what im hoping otherwise we’re total mugs and Apple’s b*tch
But will it blend?
€6.56…………………same price as the defunct disposable camera. Who would have thought!
All the crap that truly goes on in India is going to flood the internet now.
“ONE of the cheapest?”
I wonder how cheap the “other ones” are.
have your say