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Karbonn A50S smartphone at just £26, set to rival iPhone and Samsung Galaxy at a fraction of the cost

By FnF Desk | PUBLISHED: 28, Jul 2014, 18:39 pm IST | UPDATED: 28, Jul 2014, 18:39 pm IST

Karbonn A50S smartphone at just £26, set to rival iPhone and Samsung Galaxy at a fraction of the cost London: With a touchscreen display, internet connection, front and rear camera lens and dual phone number function, a new handset costing just £26 is set to take the mobile market by storm.

According to the Daily Mail report, launched last month the Indian-made Karbonn A50S hopes to rival market leaders – Apple iPhone and Samsung Galaxy – at a fraction of the cost.

And while the low cost smartphone is officially only available to domestic customers in India, bargain hungry Britons can buy the handset online and have it sent on to the UK. The mobile can be used on most UK networks with a pay-as-you-go Sim card.

The Karbonn A50S shares many of the functions of handsets costing many times more. It has a touchscreen display, it connects to the internet, uses WiFi, can download apps, takes photographs and makes voice calls and text messages.

It also has the rare feature of two Sim-card slots which enables the user to swap between two networks and two phone numbers.

And as it runs on Android, the Google-owned operating system, it comes with all the usual Google services including Gmail and Google Maps.

The bargain Indian phone will lead British consumers to question why they pay hundreds of pounds for their phones and expensive contracts with network providers, when the raw components are so cheap.

Apple's latest iPhone, the 5S, costs £549 in the UK and the Samsung Galaxy S5 costs the same. Even Motorola’s more basic Moto G smartphone costs £125.

The Karbonn A50S is one of a new breed of cheap smartphones that will start flooding the UK and European market over the coming months, experts warn.

'Ten years ago the technology was expensive, but that’s not the case anymore, ‘Ben Wood, head of research at CCS Insight, a mobile phone research company, said.

'Android has been the great leveller in the market because anyone can install it, while the hardware from places such as China is incredibly cheap and reliable.'

Carolina Milanesi of consumer research firm Kantar Worldpanel added western nations including the UK are only just waking up to the potential of smartphone technology with has been cheap for several years.

She said: 'About seven years ago manufacturers in China started teaming up with chip makers. They took the standard workings of a smartphone and made huge numbers at low cost.

'They then attach a screen, a case and a camera and take it to market at low cost.

'So far they have been focusing on emerging markets, mainly Africa and south Asia, but now they are beginning to look closely at mature markets.'

Other cut-price brands hoping to gain a foothold in the British mobile market include French firm Wiko, which launched a £60 smartphone in April this year.

The Karbonn A50S mainly uses previous generation hardware, although it is still a highly competent handset. It runs the last but one version of Android, which is also used by handset makers Samsung, HTC and many others.

And while the 3.5-inch touchscreen is small for a modern smartphone and does not provide high-definition display, the dual-core processor – the chip that controls the phone – is as fast as many other handsets.

Britons wishing to buy a Karbonn A50S must first register with an Indian courier firm that provides a local postal address or ask a friend or relative in India to let them use their address.

The smartphone can then be bought online and delivered to the address in India and forwarded to the UK.

Sending a 2kg package – the approximate weight of the Karbonn handset - to the UK costs about £20 and because the phone is so cheap there is no import duty to pay.

HOW THE SMARTPHONES COMPARE

Apple iPhone 5S

Price: £549

Screen: 4-inch

Screen pixels: 1,136x640

Memory: 16GB

Camera (megapixels): 8 mp

Processor: Dual-core 1.3Ghz

Software: iOS 7

Connections: WIFI, 2G, 3G, 4G

Samsung Galaxy S5

Price: £549

Screen: 5.1-inch

Screen pixels: 1,080x1,920

Memory: 16GB

Camera (megapixels): 16 mp

Processor: Quad-core 2.5Ghz

Software: Android KitKat

Connections: WIFI, 2G, 3G, 4G

Karbonn A50S

Price: £26

Screen: 3.5-inch

Screen pixels: 480x320

Memory: 512 MB

Camera (megapixels): 2 mp

Processor: Dual-core 1.2Ghz

Software: Android Jelly Bean

Connections: WIFI, 2G, 3G