The report from Information says that the first Android One device is expected to arrive before the second half of the year and needless to say Google will also take part in the marketing campaigns. The devices are expected to be priced in the $200-300 range and while this is expensive as opposed to other Android One phones but still it will make it to the budget category in the United States. Android One was originally conceived in order to manufacture and sell budget Android phones paired with equally strong Software.
Also Read: Dear Google, Whatever Happened to Android One?
Google kind of governed the terms when it came to the use of components and had also prescribed a certain minimum for most of the hardware including SoC. Later it was reported that Google had diluted its hardware requirements due to the decreased participation from the partner manufacturers. With this, it was speculated that Google indirectly allowed for hardware fragmentation and it eventually made it extremely difficult for them to update the Android One. The very premise of this project was to standardize the components and bring about a uniform experience across the devices. Android One also failed to attract manufacturers as partners and most of the devices lacked lustre when it comes to the hardware. This only allowed other budget handsets like the Redmi 1s take lead and gain a foothold in the market. That said the US is again a different market and with an average of $531 per smartphone and this might help Android One to make its mark in the US market. Also, it’s most likely that Google will partner with LG for the Android One program and we might actually see some good affordable devices ready to plug the void left by the Nexus devices.
