Ringing Bells, the maker of the world's cheapest smartphone Freedom 251, is putting an end to all the allegations against the company by readying 2 lakh units of the Rs. 251 smartphones for shipment in India. While the deliveries will begin on June 30, the company's founder and CEO Mohit Goel revealed his plans to disrupt the television market by launching the cheapest LED TV in India next month.
While speaking to IANS about the Freedom 251 deliveries and future plans, Goel said that the company already has 1 lakh pieces of its upcoming 32-inch high-definition LED TV ready for launch. With a price tag of under Rs. 10,000, Ringing Bells is expected to hit the current rulers of the television market hard, like it did in the smartphone market with the Freedom 251.
"These will be the cheapest television sets in India and will be available for less than Rs 10,000. Within two days, the delivery would be made and we would sell them online," Goel told IANS.
Goel confirmed that after completing the first phase of delivery of 2 lakh smartphones, the registrations for the next sale will be opened for Freedom 251. When the smartphone was launched in February, it received 7 crore registrations in just three days before the payment gateway crashed. After taking 30,000 bookings, the company refunded the amount due to the criticism and scrutiny from the government.
For those who are unaware, Freedom 251 seems unreal for a low price of Rs. 251. It comes with a 4.0-inch qHD (960x540p) and runs Android 5.1 Lollipop. It is powered by a 1.3GHz quad-core processor with 1GB RAM, 8GB expandable storage and a 1,450mAh battery. There are two cameras — a 3.2MP snapper on the back and a 0.3MP shooter on the front.
With these specs, industry experts estimated that the cost of the device should be around Rs. 2,000. After initially revealing that the company made profit despite the low cost of the handset, Goel said that he is facing a loss of Rs. 140 to Rs. 150 per unit. But he is hoping to make some profit from volume, IANS reported.
"Our devices are completely 'Make in India' and were manufactured at our Haridwar-based manufacturing unit. We plan to sell two lakh devices every month," he noted.
