Microsoft is making a play for emerging markets with two new low-cost Windows Phone smartphones.
The dual-core Lumia 435, which is coming to markets across the world, including Africa, will cost just €69, or less than R1 000, before taxes and before operator subsidies. It has 1GB of RAM, a 2-megapixel camera and 8GB of expandable storage.
Microsoft has also announced the Lumia 532, which will fetch €79.
Both phones run Windows Phone 8.1, offer “core smartphone features”, and are aimed at consumers upgrading from feature phones.
The Lumia 532 packs in a quad-core processor and is meant as a successor to the popular Lumia 530. It comes with a front-facing camera, a 5-megapixal rear camera and more memory than the 530.
It comes with Skype and Microsoft Office preinstalled and offers 30GB of OneDrive cloud storage.
Microsoft corporate vice-president of phones Jo Harlow said the Lumia 435 and Lumia 532 are the most affordable Lumia devices the company has made.
Both phones will be rolled out to “key markets” in Africa, Europe, Asia-Pacific, India and the Middle East in February. They will be available in bright green, bright orange, white and black, and will be available in single- and dual-Sim variants, with the latter Sim setup coming equipped with “Smart Dual Sim”, which manages calls and texts to either number in use. — (c) 2015 NewsCentral Media