Qihoo launches a smartphone that comes only at a price of $64. (Photo : Reuters)
Qihoo 360, China's leading Internet security firm, recently launched a smartphone worth $64 dollars. This comes after inking a joint venture with Coolpad and pouring in $410 million.
The smartphone will be sold under Coolpad's Dazen. It features a Qualcomm quad-core chip, an 8-megapixel camera and a 5-inch display.
According to industry insiders, the Qihoo smartphone is set to fare well in the tough Chinese smartphone market.
Yan Zhanmeng, an analyst affiliated with International Data Corp., "it's a market strategy to attract users. It puts huge pressure on smaller brands which depend on selling low-cost phones."
As part of the firm's foray into the smartphone market, it will also release feature-filled yet economic phones under the new brand, Qiku, revealed by Qihoo 360 chairman and chief executive Zhou Hongyi.
The Qihoo 360-Coolpad partnership was unveiled earlier in May. Qihoo has also invested $400 million for a smartphone endeavor with the same firm in 2014.
Along with Qihoo, Xiaomi and Lenovo have also unveiled smartphones worth 500 yuan, a hundred times pricier than the New York-listed Qihoo's.
The leading Internet security firm's smartphone venture comes after other big Chinese firms have also entered the market. Earlier this year, Gree Electric Appliances and LeTV have also launched such devices named Gree smartphone and Le Superphones, respectively.
Despite the recent addition of players in the smartphone market, it has seen a recent growth decrease. Based on a German market research firm GfK's report, the first quarter of 2015 saw a 5.6-percent quarter-on-quarter decrease.
Huawei, Samsung and Apple are the main players in the market.
