The India-based company known as Ringing Bells announced they were creating a smartphone that would go on sale for the price of $4 USD. This statement was initially met with harsh criticism from the tech community with industry leaders and insiders saying the phone is a scam, but new reports tell us it actually exists.
When the Freedom 251 (the $4 phone) was first announced everyone who criticised it had the right to be sceptical. The average cost to build an iPhone 6, according to a research firm named IHS, is $200.10 USD. Even a more minimal phone would not be too far off in expense from this figure, thus making a retail price of $4 USD exceptionally hard to believe.
However, the phone is real, and will be shipping out its first order of over 200,000 units on June 30, 2016. The CEO of Ringing Bells has already announced they are currently taking a loss on every phone sold. He goes on to say that the company hopes to mitigate some of this loss through volume.
As one might assume, the phone is fairly minimal device that contains dated technology. The Freedom 251 possesses a 4-inch 960×540-pixel resolution screen, a 1.3 GHz quad-core processor, 1 GB of memory, an 8-megapixel rear camera along with a 3.2-megapixel front camera, and an Android 5.1 operating system. This is by no means a phone to showcase relevant tech in a cost efficient package. It is meant to appeal to the local population that can’t afford the average smartphone.
There’s been no word on if the company is planning on offering the phone outside of the Indian market. From a realistic standpoint, it would be highly unlikely to assume the phone would retain its attractive price point once offered to foreign markets.
Regardless of the Freedom 251’s specs and how much money Ringing Bells makes off the phone, it’s great to see a tech company create a product that gives back to the world without the motivation of financial success.
