HP said to be staging a comeback with affordable smartphones

Hewlett-Packard (HP) is staging a comeback with its own line of smartphones, but those devices will not be awe-inspiring top-shelf devices. Instead, HP is now said to be working on low-cost devices built with budget customers in mind, according to DigiTimes. The company is allegedly focusing exclusively on affordable devices priced at around $250 off contract, and the plan is to sell them in emerging markets. We’ve already heard similar rumors not too long ago, and now DigiTimes reiterates it once again.

It also adds the interesting detail that one of the first of those allegedly upcoming affordable HP smartphones will have a 5 to 5.7 inch display, and run on an Intel chip. Moreover, it will feature an ordinary design that will allegedly be hard to distinguish from what white-box Chinese phone makers use, except for the HP brand logo. Software-wise, expectations are that the forthcoming HP phones will run on Android, but without many unique features.

It might be a coincidence, but that’s the same exact strategy that HP is using to sell its tablets - it offers devices at bottom low prices, and has no one flagship to drive sales.

In order to achieve profitability - something that’s notoriously hard to do with affordable devices - HP is actually relying on tight control and optimizations of its supply chain in China. Nonetheless, it will be an uphill battle for HP. After all, that’s exactly what its Asian rivals like Lenovo, Acer and Asus are best at. Will it succeed? Only time will tell, but we’ll keep a close eye on the company.

source: DigiTimes