Android One devices rumored to come next month at higher price than expected

Android One was touted as Google’s new standard for the budget smartphone, a reference platform for companies to make good devices for really low prices. In fact, it was said that Android One devices would be released in India for sub-$100 prices with stock Android and quick updates. While many of us don’t much care for budget devices, this move is a huge deal.

However, rumors claim that initial Android One devices won’t meet that price point. Due to some demands by Google about quality of hardware, prices for these devices will be around the $115-165 point. This may be due to Android L’s higher hardware requirements, despite the devices launching with Android 4.4.4.

However, these devices might be coming sooner than expected. Instead of October, we may be looking at an early September launch in India. They will be updated to Android L sometime in October as well. While these aren’t quite the sub-$100 devices we were expecting, it’s still an impressive price point to shoot for and Android One is a solid business strategy. Maybe the second batch of devices released under the program will be cheaper.

Source: The Economic Times