Indigenous manufacturers such as Fly, Simoco, Lava, Micromax, Maxx and many more recognize the need to bring in cheapest mobile phones to Indians and thus you will find them offering feature packed phones at prices which seem too good to be true.
If features such as built-in camera, touch screen, music player, expandable memory, are must haves for you, then these phones can safely be considered as the cheapest mobile phones in India. For example a Micromax mobile phone with a 2-megapixel camera, GPRS, WAP, FM radio and a host of other features can be yours for less than INR 4000!
Local manufacturers such as Simoco, which operates in the eastern parts of India, can give even better for multimedia phones or music phones. But the catch is that, you are not sure of the quality of the phone, and the reliability of the chip-level components can be questionable too. There are also some claims that Indian manufacturers save on the cost of production by importing sub-standard parts from China.
But while these may or may not be true, you will always be taking a greater risk in buying these mobile handsets than buying those made by global giants such as Nokia, Samsung, LG, HTC, Blackberry, Apple and Sony Ericsson. A phone with similar features as the one mentioned above will cost you at least INR 1000 more if made by any of these manufacturers. But at the same time, you can be assured of buying a product conforming to world class quality standards.
And who says that these companies do not have cheap phones? If you are looking for a mobile phone with no frills, you can have the 1200 series models from Nokia which will cost you only about INR 1400-1600! These are what you can call ‘basic phones’ because they are only suitable for making and receiving calls and text messages. But then again, they are your best bets if you want the cheapest phones, which can be reliable too.
Here is a list of all cheap but good quality phones available in India currently:
- The Nokia 1203, with a black and white display, costs upwards of INR 1050.
- The Sony Ericsson J132 costs INR 1700.
- The Samsung E1100 costs INR 1320.
- The Motorola W181 costs INR 1540.
These are also the cheapest phones brought out by these global telecom giants. You may find phones made by local manufacturers easily dipping below the magic mark of INR 1000, but then, you should think twice before investing in them.
A discussion about the cheapest mobiles in India would be incomplete without bringing grey market phones into it. If you can live with the fact that most of these phones are either smuggled or ‘dumped goods’, then these phones are the cheapest.
Going by the demand for the grey imports, it is safe to say that a lot of people are buying them even though there is no warranty on these phones. So make your decision wisely because the cheapest is not always the best!