Ringing Bells to launch India's cheapest smartphone at Rs 251

Noida-based smartphone maker Ringing Bells will launch India's most affordable smartphone today, priced at Rs 251, a move that is set to disrupt the booming Indian mobile handset market.

The 3G handset, Freedom 251, features a 4-inch display, Qualcomm 1.3-GHz quad-core processor and 1 GB RAM, according to details shared by the company.

The Android Lollipop-based handset will have an onboard storage of 8 GB with support for expandable memory of up to 32 GB. It features a 3.2-MP rear and a 0.3-MP front facing camera and a 1,450-mAh battery.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikkar will launch the smartphone Freedom 251 later this evening.

The mass market device will come with preinstalled apps including Women Safety, Swachh Bharat, Fisherman, Farmer, Medical, WhatsApp, Facebook and YouTube.

Bookings for the Freedom 251 will start tomorrow. Previously, the company has launched the most affordable 4G smartphone for Rs 2,999.

At present, smartphones available in the market are priced around Rs 1,500. Last year, DataWind had announced that it is teaming up with Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Communications (RCOM) to launch the world's most affordable smartphone, priced at Rs 999. The phone is yet to hit the market.

Established last year, Ringing Bells will start with the assembly of handsets in Phase-I and aims at full indigenous development of the feature-rich smartphones, it said.
It, however, did not disclose details about manufacturing or how it had managed to keep the pricing low.

A new entrant in the Indian mobile phone market, Ringing Bells has launched two other feature phones in the market.

India, one of the fastest growing smartphone markets globally, is poised to overtake the US as the second-largest market in next few years.

In the last few months, global smartphone makers, including the likes of Xiaomi, Motorola and Gionee have commenced assembling their handsets in India, where the government is pushing local manufacturing through its Make in India initiative.