Talk gets cheaper

By P.L., G.S. and P.K.

Rise of the low-cost smartphone

SMARTPHONES are becoming radically inexpensive. Of the 1.2 billion gizmos that will be shipped this year, almost half will cost less than $200 and one-fifth will cost less than $100. Three years ago, few sub-$100 smartphones were made at all: devices at $400-plus made up half the market. Yet as production costs have fallen, vendors can wrap features around ever-cheaper standardised chipsets to hit ever-lower target prices. As costs go down, quality is rising. Last year 87% of phones priced at less than $80 had processors faster than 1 gigahertz, up from 42% in 2012, says IDC, a research firm. The proportion with screens more than four inches across went up from 8% to 38%. Someone replacing an old basic phone is likely to pay less than the price of their existing device for something much more capable. And even cheaper phones are on the way. Mozilla, a not-for-profit group, is promising devices at $25.