Mozilla Announces $25 Firefox OS Smartphone

A Firefox OS reference handset for developers, called the Firefox OS Flame, was presented by the Mozilla Foundation as a prototype of the $25 model. It offers a dual-core, 1.2-GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU, 4.5-inch 854x480 display, NFC, a 5-megapixel camera on the back and 2-megapixel on the front, and 3G wireless data.

On the eve of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the Mozilla Foundation announced it was launching a $25 Firefox OS-based smartphone. Although targeted for now at emerging markets, the move could affect smartphone pricing worldwide.

On Sunday, foundation head Mitchell Baker showed a press gathering a prototype of the $25 device, with components built by chipmaker Spreadtrum Communications in Shanghai. Indonesia-based Polytron, among others, will make and market the phone. In a statement, Spreadtrum said that this low-priced model can "expand the global accessibility of open Web smartphones to first-time and entry-level smartphone buyers."