Google to Launch Cheap Smartphones in Emerging Markets

Google celebrated the milestone of two million active Android devices across the world by announcing Android Go, a new platform that will help the tech giant to launch cheap smartphones for developing markets.

According to the company’s blog post, Android Go will be a lightweight version of the upcoming Android O and will take up lesser storage space and provide better battery life in lower-end smartphones, reported Your Story.

In developing countries like Iran, a large part of the population now possesses smartphones. However, the lower to middle-income groups usually buy cheaper models and subscribe to limited data packages. As a result, problems like slow Internet and limited storage space make it difficult for these users to access and use many of the apps and services offered by the Google Play Store and local app market Café Bazaar.

To overcome these limitations, Android Go will come bundled in all smartphones with a RAM of 1 GB and less. On such devices, all apps on the Play Store will also be optimized to use less space and memory.

Android Go isn’t much different from Android One that Google had launched three years ago. It had launched Android One with the same intention of offering cheap Android smartphone devices, but did not see much success.

Google has not officially announced the name of any third-party device maker that would launch smartphones tailor-made for Android Go platform, or indicated that it will launch its own hardware devices with Android Go. However, it has said that it would launch the platform in 2018.