Wednesday’s newspapers had double-spread ads immediately after the front page announcing the launch of “India’s most affordable smartphone”. Priced at just Rs 251, the Freedom 251 smartphone boasted of an older but still relevant version of Android, a front and back camera, a competent processor and expandable storage.
With most smartphones in the country costing at least 10 times more, the arrival of a smartphone cheaper than most smartphone covers had everybody’s curiosity piqued.
Further digging revealed that Ringing Bells, a company started in Noida last year, was behind the product. The company said the smartphone had been developed with “immense support” from the government, but wouldn’t say more apart from touting it as a success story of the Union government’s flagship Make in India scheme, with Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Murli Manohar Joshi, a Member of Parliament, set to launch the device later in the day.
With the sketchy details on offer, social media resorted to speculating about how it was possible to produce such a cheap smartphone. Some sceptics said the parts would cost at least Rs 5,000, while others recalled previous “budget” misadventures such as the Tata Nano and the Aakash tablet that failed to meet expectations.
A report on Hindustan Times also suggested that Freedom 251 was in possible copyright violation of the iPhone.
But the price of the phone also induced a dash of humour on social media. Here’s a selection.
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