ARM Says We’ll See $20 Smartphones In 2015

With RISC-based processing on the rise, and many major manufacturers getting in on the action, ARM is predicting $20 handsets next year. Firefox is already working on a $25 solution for emerging markets with their fledgling HTML5-based operating system.

Sure, no one’s going to win any benchmark competitions with such a budget build. But this could work wonders for developing countries or even for modern market holdouts who aren’t interested in forking out $600 for a flagship phone. Current market estimates put smartphone penetration somewhere between 55-80% of U.S. citizens. Budget phones could go a long way in attracting that remaining share of users.

Firefox and Spreadtrum’s offering is alleged to support EDGE and WCDMA bandwidths. It’s 3.5″ HVGA touchscreen and low memory config is only really a couple years behind current standards, and would offer an entirely usable interface for first time smartphone owners. Mozilla’s already got it’s demo up and running, and Android has been making it’s own efforts(see “Reaching the next 1 billion users”) to optimize for lower spec’d handsets; just don’t hold your breath for a new cheap iPhone after the cold reception to the 5C. Regardless, what used to come across as obsolescence is being optimized and repackaged as a budget build and it could bring more consumers to the market.