A little-known Indian company is launching a smartphone on Wednesday believed to be the cheapest in the world, targeting a market already dominated by low-cost handsets.

印度的智能手机市场上充斥着低端产品，而本周三一家名不见经传的公司更是发布了一款世界上最便宜的智能手机。

Set to be priced at under 500 rupees (about 5.1 pounds), domestic handset maker¹ Ringing Bells' Freedom 251 smartphone is about 1% of the price of the latest Apple iPhone.

印度本土手机生产商Ringing Bell发布的自由251智能手机，售价仅为500卢布（约合5.1英镑），约为苹果最新款手机（iPhone 6S）售价的百分之一。

Ringing Bells was set up in September 2015 and began selling mobile phones via its website a few weeks ago under its Bell brand, a spokeswoman said.

该公司的一位女发言人介绍说，Ringing Bells于2015年9月刚刚成立，成立几周后就在其官网上出售手机。

"This is our flagship model and we think it will bring a revolution in the industry," she told AFP. Ringing Bells currently imports parts from overseas and assembles them in India but plans to make its phones domestically within a year, the spokeswoman added.

她接受法新社采访时表示："自由251是公司的旗舰产品，我们认为这款手机将会带来一场行业革命。"这位发言人还表示，Ringing Bells目前的生产模式是从国外进口零件，在印度进行组装。不过公司计划在一年内实现手机生产组装本土化。

Cheap smartphones, many of them Chinese-made, are readily available in the Indian market but domestic competitors are making inroads, with models selling for less than 14 pounds.

如今印度市场上到处是低价的智能手机，其中大多数都是中国公司生产的。本土的生产商亦不甘示弱，甚至推出过售价14英镑的机型。

India is the world's second-largest mobile market and notched² up its billionth mobile phone subscriber³ in October, according to the country's telecoms regulator. But in poorer Indian states such as Bihar, "teledensity" – the penetration⁴ of telephone connections for every 100 people – is as low as 54%, with a stark⁵ urban-rural divide.

印度是世界第二大手机市场，据印度电信部门官员介绍，2015年十月印度的手机用户达到了10亿人。但是，在像比哈尔邦这样的穷地方，"电信密度"--也就是一百人中使用电话的人数--仅为54%，城乡差距非常明显。