A Smartphone For All

If the mere thought of spending a day without a smartphone (or more specifically, without your favorite apps) is driving you insane, can you imagine a life without it? 

Let's face it - smartphones have fundamentally changed the way we live. Things that were practically impossible to achieve earlier are just an app away now. Isn't that wonderful!

The big question, however, is: how do we ensure that the smartphones are accessible to the common man, not just the affluent. To address this concern, smartphone manufacturers are producing mobile phones at a lower cost these days. The market is flooded with mobile phones in the price range of INR 5000 to 10000. For every extra rupee that you decide to spend, there is yet another smartphone to be considered.

Fierce competition among smartphone manufacturers is fueling this trend. Chinese companies like Xiaomi found reasonable success in their home country by selling affordable yet powerful smartphones. Google is trying to build high-quality devices for a price as low as INR 6000. For that price, you can get a swanky display, a cool processor, a good battery life, and a great storage. What else do you wish for!

Phone chipmakers like Qualcomm, Spreadtrum, and MediaTek are making it easy for hardware makers to get in the game by creating near-final reference designs. These companies realize the potential of a growing global middle class and the end of carrier subsidies that create huge growth in world markets.

Cheaper smartphones have been around for awhile but they were always associated with weak processors, small screens, and crappy software. Most consumers don't care about specifications anymore. The focus has shifted towards the price point.

In both developed and developing economies, cheaper smartphone brands are becoming popular. Consumers buying their first smartphones today care less about the brand and more about price. The declining cost of making smartphones also implies that buyers get more bang for the buck.

The latest trend of low-priced, high-performance phones will hit companies like Apple and Samsung hard. As Internet enabled consumer electronics become affordable to consumers worldwide, it will force tech companies towards further innovation.

So expect a flurry of more high-quality, cheap smartphones with various screen sizes, colors, hardware and software configurations to enhance your mobile experience.

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