Liliputing

  • Reviews
  • Deals
  • How To…
  • Mini PCs
  • Shop
  • About
    • About Liliputing
    • Contact us
    • Advertise on Liliputing
    • Support Liliputing
    • Privacy Policy

ARM predicts we’ll see $20 smartphones in 2015

05/06/2014 at 11:30 AM by Brad Linder 9 Comments

Mozilla expects to see smartphones sell for as little as $25 soon. But chip designer ARM thinks things can go even lower.

ARM says the first $20 smartphones could launch in the next few months.

arm cortex-a5

Don’t expect stellar performance from a $20 phone. But ARM figures you can take one of the company’s Cortex-A5 processors, slap on a cheap touchscreen, a little memory and storage, and a free operating system like Firefox OS and you’ll have a phone that you can use to surf the web, run apps, and make telephone calls with, I suppose.

As AnandTech points out, the original iPhone launched in 2007 with a $599 price tag and an ARM11 processor that’s slower than the Cortex-A5 chips ARM is talking about using in dirt cheap smartphones.

Clearly a lot can change in 7 years.

It’s likely that these entry-level phones will be aimed at developing markets where high-priced, and even mid-range smartphones may be out of reach for a large segment of the population.

Hopefully they’ll also be offered alongside affordable wireless service plans.

arm 20 phone

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Reddit
  • Email

Daily Deals (2-15-2019)

A few days ago I noted that the 2.2 pound Asus E203MA laptop with an 11.6 inch display, an Intel Celeron N4000 Gemini Lake processor, 4GB of RAM and … [Read More...]



Support Liliputing

Liliputing’s primary sources of revenue are advertising and affiliate links (if you click the “Shop” button at the top of the page and buy something on Amazon, for example, we’ll get a small commission).

But there are several ways you can support the site directly even if you’re using an ad blocker and hate online shopping.

Contribute via PayPal

  • donate monthly
  • donate once only
Select a Donation Option (USD)

Enter Donation Amount (USD)

Subscribe via Patreon

Become a Patron!

9
Leave a Reply

Login with
Facebook Google Twitter WordPress Yahoo! Disqus Reddit Stackoverflow GitHub
avatar
This comment form collects your name, email address, and content to allow us to keep track of comments placed on this website. Please read our privacy policy for more details.
Save my name, email, and website in this browser cookies for the next time I comment.
5 Comment threads
4 Thread replies
0 Followers
 
Most reacted comment
Hottest comment thread
7 Comment authors
GeorgeRex XuwerewolfcjjmooseTired8281 Recent comment authors
avatar
This comment form collects your name, email address, and content to allow us to keep track of comments placed on this website. Please read our privacy policy for more details.
Save my name, email, and website in this browser cookies for the next time I comment.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  Subscribe  
newest oldest most voted
Notify of
Thomas Lee Mullins
Guest
Thomas Lee Mullins
You can flag a comment by clicking its flag icon. Website admin will know that you reported it. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

I can see this as a phone for those who only want to make phone calls and do little more. It might also work as someones first phone, easily replaceable since it costs so little. I can see it for more ‘mature’ cell phone users who might just want to use for emergencies. I think there could be a market niche for it.

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
4 years ago
George
Guest
George
You can flag a comment by clicking its flag icon. Website admin will know that you reported it. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

For a very long time, Android phones were stuck at version 2.3, Gingerbread.
I can imagine these $20 phones being very much like those 2.3 phones. Matter
of fact, why not include the 512 MB of RAM on the SoC?

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
4 years ago
Rex Xu
Guest
Rex Xu
You can flag a comment by clicking its flag icon. Website admin will know that you reported it. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

Have neither of you been following Firefox OS? It uses a cloud approach to applications (similar to Chrome OS) thus eliminating the need for strong on-board processing. I’m waiting for the OS to mature a bit, but I think it is very promising and would probably change our perception of a “low end smartphone”

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
4 years ago
George
Guest
George
You can flag a comment by clicking its flag icon. Website admin will know that you reported it. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

Even Google realizes that the cloud is not for everyone, especially when there’s an outage or attack. That’s why even Google is adding offline processing capability to Chrome OS. Cloud computing is vulnerable to cyberwarfare, data breaches, DDoS attacks, exploits, spammers, hackers, human error (routers being incorrectly programmed), etc. A just-released report by Level 3, a major backbone provider, slams several unnamed ISPs (mainly cable TV companies) for not upgrading their facilities and allowing Internet congestion at their peering points. In the telecom business, the benchmark is called 5 9s, that is, 99.999% reliability, which is the hallmark of the POTS landline business. I’d say cloud computing will really take hold when it is that reliable In a recent “60 Minutes” episode, US Minuteman personnel pointed out that the silos were not on the Internet, so they were safe from attack on that front. I don’t know about you, but… Read more »

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
4 years ago
BoloMKXXVIII
Guest
BoloMKXXVIII
You can flag a comment by clicking its flag icon. Website admin will know that you reported it. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

Burner smart phones! Yippie!

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
4 years ago
Tired8281
Guest
Tired8281
You can flag a comment by clicking its flag icon. Website admin will know that you reported it. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

I’m in. A $20 phone would be great to take to concerts, camping trips, or anywhere where I’d have to worry about my good smartphone being pickpocketed or smashed or drowned.

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
4 years ago
jjmoose
Guest
jjmoose
You can flag a comment by clicking its flag icon. Website admin will know that you reported it. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

right along side of 95 cent a gallon premium gasoline..

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
4 years ago
werewolfc
Guest
werewolfc
You can flag a comment by clicking its flag icon. Website admin will know that you reported it. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

Someone at the ARM inc. got high. Just imagine how crappy that smartphone would be for 20$: very low res screen,laggy ….. and not to mention the battery…. Total mega crap! … even for the emerging markets!

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
4 years ago
Rex Xu
Guest
Rex Xu
You can flag a comment by clicking its flag icon. Website admin will know that you reported it. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

When working with low-end hardware, it is really up to well optimized software. Windows Phone 8 runs extremely well on slow processors and low ram, and I hear Firefox OS does an even better job at this. Even iOS (which has not changed much of it’s structure at all) only runs on 1GB RAM only a fraction of the processing power from the A7 chip is used for the OS, most goes towards apps.

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
4 years ago

Follow Liliputing:

Facebook Twitter YouTube tumblr RSS Patreon

Latest News

Windows Subsystem for Linux update will let you access Linux file from Windows

One of the most surprising things about Windows 10 is that you have the option … [Read More...]

SPUDwrite is a DIY E Ink typewriter… with a printer… and an LCD display

Modern computers can do an awful lot of things. You can write a novel, or read … [Read More...]

ECS introduces 2-in-1 tablets, smart displays, and more

Taiwanese PC maker ECS plans to show off a bunch of new products at Mobile World … [Read More...]

Featured articles

GPD MicroPC handheld computer preview

It's been a good couple of years for handheld computer enthusiasts. Companies … [Read More...]

Taihe Gemini portable 1080p touchscreen monitor preview

The Taihe Gemini portable monitor has made quite a splash since going up for … [Read More...]

Zotac Pico PI470 is a pocket-sized PC with Intel Amber Lake

Zotac's latest pocket-sized computer is the company's most powerful to date. … [Read More...]

Disclosure: Some links on this page are monetized by Skimlinks and Amazon's and eBay's affiliate programs.

Login

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries RSS
  • Comments RSS
  • WordPress.org

Copyright © 2019 Liliputing · About Liliputing · Contact Us · Privacy Policy · Go to top of page

wpDiscuz
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.