A smartphone for $4: will there be enough super-cheap gadgets of Indian production for Russia?
The product of Indian import substitution with Chinese roots will be released in a limited production
The statements of the Indian company Ringing Bells about the sales of the cheapest in the world smartphone at a price of $4 blow up the Internet for the second time this year. This time, apparently, the real delivery will take place. At the same time, the novelty has already become the subject of scandal in Russia. It was positioned as a product of import substitution but in fact it turned out to be a re-branded Chinese smartphone produced at Chinese capacities. Besides, only a limited prodiution has been released, which may not reach a Russian buyer.
By $2 cheaper of the prime cost
The cheapest smartphone for $4 has become a sensation in the winter of this year. The presentation of the Freedom 251 from the Ringing Bells company took place on 18 February in New Delhi. The first 30 thousand units, bought on pre-order, were to be delivered to the first customers until 30 June of 2016. The company promised to release 2.5 million smartphones in 2016. However, the pre-sales, which started immediately after the presentation, were quickly curtailed.
The company has recently declared the people's smartphone again and promised that they will keep the promise on the first deliveries of Freedom 251 from 30 June. The cost of a smartphone will be 251 Indian rupees. Now it is noted that the cheapest smartphone is planned to be produced in a limited quantity — 200 thousand units. According to the Executive Director of the Ringing Bells Mohit Goel, the smartphones are sold much cheaper of the prime cost. He noted that the company will lose about $2 from each sold Freedom 251.
Freedom 251 features a quad-core processor (1.3 GHz), a display with a resolution of 960 x 540 pixels, and 1 GB of RAM and 8 GB of flash memory. The cameras have a resolution of 8 MP and 3.2 MP. The battery capacity — up to 1800 mA/h. Smartphone running on Android 5.1 Lollipop.
The Chinese roots of Indian product import substitution
However, 'the cheapest smartphone' has become famous not only due to the price but also the scandal. According to the Computerra, the whole story of Freedom 251 was initially promoted as an advertising campaign of the state program 'Made in India' — an Indian equivalent of the Russian import substitution programme. The programme was initiated by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Vice President of the Ringing Bells Ashok Chadha, answering questions about the unprecedented low price, explained that it was possible to reduce it in two ways: local production and government subsidies.
However, as it turned out later, there were no government subsidies. The official authorities had to refute the statements of support of the project: 'This is not a government project. The team of the national programme 'Made in India' has nothing to do with it,' tweeted the Secretary of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion Amitabh Kant.
The Indian production also turned out to be a myth, which was designed for daily production of 500 thousand smartphones. The Ringing Bells even does not have a factory for assembling in India, and the first Freedom 251 turned out to be a re-branded budget Chinese smartphone Adcom Ikon 4s.
It is impossible not to recall that YotaPhone, positioned as the first Russian smartphone, also was assembled in Chinese enterprises.
The smartphones are not for Russia
Anyway, the price at $4 per a smartphone still remains in the press releases of the company, and Freedom 251 is still positioned as the cheapest 'smart' mobile phone. At the same time, the limited production batch casts doubt on not only its output to foreign markets in the near future but even the coverage of the Indian market.
The query 'Freedom 251 to buy' in the search engines on the Internet is now one of the most popular, but for the Russians, Ringing Bells informs nothing about the Russian market. Interviewed by Realnoe Vremya Russian retail chains are not planning the sales of 'national' Indian smartphones either.
In the press service of Svyaznoy to the question whether they will sell Freedom, they said that the device was made exclusively for the Indian market and is focused on the poorest people in the country and that the smartphone is more a social project than a commercial. Besides, the company has announced that they are losing money on each sold device.