Google Is Planning A $100 Smartphone [Report]

Google is planning a low-budget smartphone that may retail for as little as $100, according to rumors coming from Taiwanese supply chain sources.

We saw the news on 9to5Google but you can read more about it here, too. Treat this info with skepticism: There's little more to go on.

Nonetheless, the rumor is enticing for several reasons.

First, Google is actually expected to launch the Nexus 6 later this year. That's the successor to its well-regarded (but modestly sold) Android flagship phone with a big screen.

Second, we saw recently these internal documents from Apple showing that the market is moving away from Apple's iPhone business, if that business is defined as $300+ phones with small screens. Apple sells the iPhone at around $700. Virtually all the growth in smartphone sales recently has been in the sub-$300 price range, and among large-screen phones. Apple knows its own customers actually complain about the price and screen size. So if Google was to bring out big-screen, high performance Android at the $100 level it could terrify Samsung and Apple.

The emphasis is on "could" here, because profits on such phones are tiny or non-existent. Only Apple and Samsung actually make profits selling phones. So a $100 Google phone would be a money-loser for Google.

Third, all the buzz at Mobile World Congress back in March was about the $35 Chinese Android business. It's not that anyone thinks these things are going to catch fire in the U.S. or Europe. Rather, it's the principle of the thing: You can make a moderately good Android and sell it for $35. So why should anyone pay $700 for an iPhone or a Galaxy S5 (which retails at about $660)?

Fourth, and this is the most speculative part of the whole thing, a $100 high-quality Android would look especially enticing in the U.S. market if Apple did actually pursue the rumored - and suicidal? - plan of raising the price of the iPhone 6 to nearer $800.

At that point, consumers would be faced with a choice of the "best" phone for ~$800 and what could be the second best phone for $100.

Here's the rumor from Taiwan:

According to the source's "trusted insiders from Taiwan supply chains", Google has now teamed up with the chip maker "MediaTek" in order to build a very low priced smartphone. The handset would supposedly hit the shelves at prices as low as $100!