Followers of the mobile phone industry will be excited as the Mobile World Congress 2018 (MWC 2018), the world's largest gathering for the mobile industry, is just a few days away. We may see several flagships, including Samsung Galaxy S9, Sony Xperia XZ2 series and Nokia 9, but that's not all. We may also see some budget and mid-budget smartphones like Motorola Moto G6, Moto G6 Play, Nokia 1, Nokia 3310 4G, and ZenFone 5 Lite that will find traction in developing markets.
The MWC 2018 will be held in Barcelona, Spain, from February 26 to March 1. Companies like Samsung, HMD Global and Huawei have scheduled press event on February 25, a day before the mega event begins, while Sony and Asus have announced press events on February 26 and February 27, respectively. We will come to know the list of mobile phone manufacturing companies that will participate in the event in the next few days.
Smartphone makers are tight-lipped on the products that will be announced at the upcoming MWC 2018 but it is obvious that we will come to see at least a handful of affordable smartphones that will appeal consumers in price-sensitive markets.
Here is a list of affordable smartphones (expected to be priced under Rs 15,000) expected at the MWC 2018:
Moto G6 & Moto G6 Play
Lenovo-owned Motorola hasn't revealed the release date of its upcoming handsets from Moto G-series but reports have claimed that we might see them at the MWC 2018. According to a tweet by Andri Yatim, the Moto G6 Plus is expected to come with a price tag of Rs 17,000 (around $265 / €250) but the other two variants will be priced under Rs 15,000 (around $234 / €190), that is Moto G6 at Rs 15,000 and Moto G6 Play at Rs 12,000 ($187 / €152).
Nokia 3310 4G & Nokia 1
HMD Global is expected to unveil a few Nokia devices, including the Nokia 9 aka Nokia 8 Sirocco and Nokia 7 Plus but only Nokia 3310 4G, which is already launched in China, and Nokia 1 will fall under the budget category. In fact, these handsets are entry-level, so they could be priced under Rs 6,000.
The Finnish company has announced a press event at 08:30 PM IST | 03:00 PM GMT | 04:00 PM CET | 10:00 AM EST | 07:00 AM PST on February 25, a day before the MWC 2018 begin.
ZenFone 5 Lite
Asus has scheduled a press event on February 27 at 06:30 PM GMT | 12:00 AM IST (February 28) | 07:30 PM CET | 01:30 PM EST | 10:30 AM PST but hasn't revealed the products to be announced. Reports have claimed that we might see two devices from Zenfone 5-series, with the ZenFone 5 Lite variant expected to be priced around Rs 15,000, while ZenFone 5 Max is expected to come with a higher price tag.
