A working smartphone for ₹251!!! A Noida-based Ringing Bells on Thursday amazed the domestic smartphone market by launching the world's cheapest smartphone for just ₹251, roughly translating to less than $4. The company has brought the Freedom 251 smartphone a full-fledge usable smartphone to India and is selling it at an amount, which is lesser than a good fast food meal.
Cheap smartphones are nothing new. There are plenty of Android Smartphones priced under ₹3,000 in the market with few takers. In the past, Akash tablet-maker Datawind too grabbed eyeballs by only innovating on the price of its UbiSlate tablet and Pocket Surfer smartphone range. However, consumers soon lost interest because these cheapest devices never delivered as per expectations.
There are lot of doubts around the Freedom 251, Questions like How it possible for company to price a smartphone this cheap and whether smartphone will successfully deliver its promises which are made by company.
So, here are the answers to all the major questions raised by consumers.
Is the smartphone worth buying at Rs 251?
While the market is used to substandard unusable products at cheap prices, the Freedom 251 smartphone (surprisingly) delivers. The company accepted that the smartphone should ideally cost above ₹3,000. So, Ringing Bells claims to offer consumers a ₹3,000-like smartphone performance in this mobile retailing at ₹251.
The smartphone has better looks (even though made of plastic), good hardware and software support. The 4 inch touch screen phone has 1.3GHz processor and is powered by Android 5.1 operating system. (For full specifications click here)
Ringing Bells is offering a full-fledged smartphone which includes complimentary earphones and works fine for just ₹251. This phone can be definitely used by those who are still stuck on feature phones due to the high price of smartphones. The actual price of the device is somewhere between ₹3,000 and ₹4,000.
Who is subsidizing the price?
On the price of ₹251, Ringing Bells made it clear that 'price innovation' is borne by themselves and government has nothing to do with the price of the smartphone. So, the company is giving the subsidy not the Indian government.
So, how is the company going to make profit?
Ringing Bells president Ashok Chadha is primarily aiming to achieve this price point by making it a mass product and save from economies of scale. Also, once their platform is well established, Chadha will opt for alternative sources of income. He mentioned that the company intends to make very little profits from the Freedom 251 particularly.
The cost of making one unit of the smartphone is around ₹2,000. "By making in India, this price goes down by ₹400. Then we will sell online only. So, this pulls down the price by ₹400 further. We are sure that this smartphone will be in a lot of demand. We are assuming to save around ₹500 from this economy of scale. At last, we wait for our platform to grow, so, that we can make money from other services," explained Chadha at the launch event. The company is also aiming to introduce its own SIM card within a couple of years (which can be the main source of income/profits).
How to book one?
The company has stopped taking orders on the Freedom251.com website after receiving massive booking requests. Ringing Bells will start the booking process soon. To book one, consumers will have to visit www.freedom251.com, click on buy and follow the on-screen instructions. The booking period will close on February 22. Consumers can expect to get the smartphones by June 30 (latest).
What about after sales support?
Ringing Bells stated that they have over 650 service centers across India. The device comes with a 1 year warranty.
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