French tablet maker Archos wants to get into the smartphone business. The company has already confirmed plans to launch its first phones this year, and a leaked roadmap recently hinted at three different models.
Now jbmm.fr reports French retail sites are starting to show listings for the upcoming Android phones for Archos, apparently confirming the names and prices.
There are three different models listed, the Archos 35 4GB Carbon, Archos 50 4GB Platinum, and Archos 53 4GB Platinum.
Based on the company’s naming conventions for Android tablets, it’s likely that these devices will feature 3.5 inch, 5.0 inch, and 5.3 inch displays, respectively. It also seems likely that each phone will have 4GB of built-in storage, and that the Carbon model will feature a lower resolution display and slower processor than the Platinum phones.
The prices seem to bear that out, with the 3.5 inch model listed at just over 81 Euros (or about $107 US) including VAT, and the Archos 50 and 53 going for 200 Euros ($264) and 239 Euros ($315), respectively.
Earlier reports had suggested the Archos 35 Carbon would be a budget phone with a 480 x 320 pixel display, 512MB of RAM, and 512MB of storage. But the same reports had suggested other models in the series would include an Archos 48 Platinum and Archos 52 Titanium.
It’s not clear if Archos has changed its plans, if those reports were wrong, or if these retail listings are inaccurate.
Hopefully we should know more by the time the phones are expected to ship in June.
Update: MiniMachines has posted a spec sheet showing 4 Archos phones, most of which have slightly different names than those listed above. They all have MediaTek processors, with the cheapest featuring a single core CPU and the highest-end device sporting a quad-core chip.
107$ seems reasobale price for budget phone with such low specs, so yeah, Id say its probably retail, non-contract price.
$107 includes european 25% tax. So US retail price may be $79 $89 or $99 and no contract.
I think I already know but are those unsubsidized prices?
Yup Archos only does retail no contract, except with perhaps tmobile if the mediateks fully work on tmobile, they probably can’t negociate distribution agreements wih US carriers.
i hear that archos is dying though and won’t last long, though. hmm, sad.
Great! This kind of fierce competition should drive down prices for everybody. Handsets are rapidly becoming commoditized and manufacturers will have to get more creative to differentiate themselves. It’s a good time to be a smart phone user!