See the previous article here: A $4 Indian Smartphone Just Dropped...
Techies and people hoping to buy the Freedom 251 around the world are confused. At the opening event for Freedom 251, Ringing Bells paraded around their phone, which was part of the Made In India campaign.
Then, a few days later people started noticing that the logo on the top was whited out on every picture. People noticed that a lot of the time, the pictures on the official website appeared to have the iPod touch iOS UI photoshopped in.
After some people scratched off the whiteout on their phone, they found a logo that didn't look like Ringing Bells' - Adcom.
Adcom is a Chinese phone maker. They build cheap phones including the Ikon 4 ($50). Their phone has many of the same specs as the Freedom and has the same chassis as the Freedom 251.
Here, take a look for yourself:
When contacted, Adcom denied that they built the phone for Ringing Bells and that they had nothing to do with them.
Ringing Bells abruptly stopped selling their product recently, citing their high demand. High demand's normally great for a business! Why stop?
An Indian government official has called this "A Ponzi Scam". A Ponzi Scam is when a fake company is set up to draw investment to pay old investors that they ripped off.
The Indian government is investigating the case of the $4 Smartphone right now. Many people have filed fraud against Ringing Bells and will see court soon.
I'm kind of disappointed. At first, I was kind of suspicious (especially after seeing the whiteout covering the logo on many of the pictures) and of the dirt-cheap price, but hopeful that this would bring down the price of tech and make it more accessible to people.
What do you think? Do you think a $4 Smartphone will ever be possible to make and when? Comment in the comment section below!
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