It looks like we could see the budget friendly Android One phone here in the United States by mid year. A report in The Information suggests that Google is planning on launching the phone at a $200-300 price range that will give branding recognition to Android in addition to giving uses a true Google Android experience. Further, like the Nexus and Pixel phones,they would get updates and security patches for two years meaning they would more-or-less be the most up to date.
For those who may not know what Android One is, it was a low budget phone that was launched in India back in 2014. The idea was to give a Google Android experience at a $100 price range. It didn’t do well as it didn’t get the marketing support it needed and the phones were under powered and under featured compared to similar phones in India at the time.
Giving Android One another try here in the US could be a good thing. It could get the Android name out there a bit more with some significant advertising and promotions. It would also give
Android One
users an option to have a phone that they know is going to get updated both with major and minor Android updates. Not all manufactures are doing that, especially in the $200-300 price range.
The report in The Information suggests that LG is in line to pick up the manufacturing of a One device but that is not confirmed.
