The World's Cheapest Handphone Is Only RM16! #NoJoke
The Freedom 251 was first announced in February.
By John Lim — 04 Jul 2016, 03:39 PM
Just when we thought smartphones can't get enough cheaper, a company is pushing out an Android device for under RM20!
Guys, we're not joking ok.
The smartphone, Freedom 251, will start shipping in India later this month for only 251 rupees (RM16). The device was unveiled by a little-known Indian company called Ringing Bells. No wonder the name doesn't ring a bell...
The smartphone was first announced in February by the Dehli-based company and was received with skepticism.
The device prompted a government investigation into how it could pull off that low price. The phone won’t be subsidised by carriers either, and the company is actually losing 151 rupees (RM9) for each handset it sells.
Claiming to be the world's cheapest smartphone, CEO Mohit Goe hopes the device would give rural and poor Indians a chance to be connected to the rest of the world
“We will have a loss, but I am happy that the dream of connecting rural and poor Indians as part of the ‘Digital India’ and ‘Make in India’ initiatives has been fulfilled with ‘Freedom 251’,” Goel said.
The Freedom 251 packs a 4-inch display, an 1800mAh battery and a 1.3GHz quad-core processor. Some pretty great features for such a cheap device!
The phone comes equipped with an 8-megapixel camera and a 3.2-megapixel front-facing shooter, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage. It also offers 3G service with dual SIM card slots and runs Android 5.1.
According to Ringing Bells, 70 million people have apparently already registered to order the Freedom 251. The company expects to ship 2.5 million units this month followed by about 200,000 devices each following month.
For now at least, the Android handset will only be available in India but the company has sights on exporting the device to other parts of the world.
Hopefully the device will make its way to our shores!
RM16 for a smartphone is really dirt cheap though. You can't even buy a venti-sized Starbucks frap for the same price!
For more info on the phone, you can check out Ringing Bell's official website here.
If you'd rather buy a phone that's a little more mainstream, get Lazada discount codes for smartphones and all electronics the next time you buy them online.