March of the Cheap Smartphones: Details on Qihoo 360’s New Phone

Recently, we’ve seen news of cheap smartphones coming from a lot of Chinese internet companies, including Baidu, Netease, and Shanda. We knew already that Qihoo 360 was also throwing its hat into this ring, but now we have some real details on the handset.

The phone will be manufactured by Huawei, and it looks like it will carry Huawei branding in addition to being associated with Qihoo 360. In terms of specs, it sounds pretty standard for smartphones these days: 4.3 inch HD screen, dual-core 1GHz processor, 1 GB of RAM, 4 GB internal storage. At 1,499 RMB ($237), it runs slightly over the 1,000 RMB target everyone seems to be aiming for these days, but it’s not clear whether that will matter much. Xiaomi has certainly achieved a lot of success at an even higher handset price, but then again, Xiaomi has word-of-mouth buzz as a hip new company. I suspect Qihoo and Huawei may have trouble arousing the same level of interest.

Of course, this is all just speculation at this point. Is the market thirsty for as many cheap smartphones as China is serving up? We’ll just have to wait and see.

[via Sina Tech]