It’s finally time: Cheap smartphones for everyone

By Felicity Duncan.My husband has held out for a long time against acquiring a new smartphone. He had an old iPhone a few years back, but he switched it out for a revamped, cheap ($40) Nokia 3310 and refused to budge. Phones, he argued, have become fancier than he needs them to be, and too expensive. But last week, he surprised me by picking up an affordable smartphone, a Huawei Y6, which set him back just over €100..It turns out he's right on trend – cheap smartphones are finally becoming a thing. From Samsung to Xiaomi to Huawei, companies are starting to turn out low-cost, fully loaded smartphone options..___STEADY_PAYWALL___.Sure, the Y6 lacks the juice of an iPhone X – worse camera, slower processor, worse screen – but it does the job. After all, top-of-the-line phones these days have the processing power of a laptop from two years ago, but most people only use them for Whatsapp, Google Maps, a few games, and maybe checking work email. Those of us buying at the high-end (myself included) are definitely rocking more phone than we really need. Perhaps next time I need a new phone, I'll take a broader look at my options..In Premium today, you can catch the latest episode of The Editor's Desk. This week, Alec Hogg and I discuss the recession in South Africa and what there is to do about it. You can also listen to Alec Hogg interview outspoken hedge fund manager Bill Browder, who is on a mission to take down Putin. You can learn how Cyril Ramaphosa has been responding to negative coverage in international media and you can find out why Jack Ma is stepping down from his wildly successful Alibaba.

It’s finally time: Cheap smartphones for everyone

Related Stories

Meet Tshepo Mahloele – Big Capitec shareholder, ABSIP’s “CEO of the Decade” now accused by Holomisa as kingpin of corrupt network

PREMIUM: Making of a great editor – the George Palmer playbook

Premium – BizNews global portfolio: ASML joins – so does Adobe as Bull takes hold again

Alec Hogg: Helen Zille predicts SA choice will be DA or EFF