The handsets provide a minimum set of features determined¹ by Google, which has sourced several of the components² to help cut manufacturing costs.

 

The company has also teamed up with a local network to make it cheaper to download Android updates and new apps.

 

Experts suggest the move should help address criticism of earlier entry-price smartphones.

 

Sundar Pichai, who oversees³ Android, said the Android One scheme had delivered economies of scale that meant the first batch⁴ of phones could be offered for as low as 6,399 rupees ($105; £65) if bought contract-free.

 

"Our goal was to develop high quality smartphones at an affordable⁵ price, with access to connectivity, done at scale around the world," he told the BBC ahead of the launch in Delhi.

 

"We provide our OEMs [original equipment manufacturers] a menu, effectively.

 

"They can choose the CPU [central processing unit], the GPU [graphics processing unit], the storage, the type of battery, the type of camera.

 

"It really saves them a lot of effort in terms of identifying the right hardware [and] doing all the testing you need to do to get the software to run on this hardware.

 

"We tune⁶ it, we work out the bugs… we keep it secure, we update it and so on."

 

He added the scheme should soon expand to Indonesia, Philippines, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. 

 

There are no plans to launch the handsets in the West, but Mr Pichai did not rule it out.

点击收听单词发音