I don’t like spending my hard-earned money at the best of times, so dealing with my phone (and the resulting bill) brings me out in hives. Smartphones are one of the great inventions of our age, but they come with such a hefty price tag that I’m often found wondering whether I actually need one. Then I go back onto my iPhone and reply to all the WhatsApp messages that need my imminent attention.

Thankfully though it seems that someone is trying to create an affordable smartphone for the masses (albeit with a pretty big catch). An Android smartphone has gone on sale in India for a staggeringly cheap £2.50, making it the cheapest one of its kind on the planet.

Oh yeah I mentioned there would be a catch didn’t I?

Well the only issue with this lovely new phone is that you can only buy it in India, where it is manufactured by the company Ringing Bells. Costing a mere 251 Indian Rupees, you’d imagine that this phone would have none of the mod cons that make smartphones almost a necessity in today’s world.

Sadly you’d be wrong; the budget smartphone has a 4-inch display, 1.3GHz quad-core processor, 1GB RAM, and a 1,450 mAh battery. It also comes with 8GB of internal storage, and (unlike iPhone) that’s expandable using an SD card. The camera won’t pull up any trees at 3.2 megapixels, but for £2.50 I’m not sure we’re in any position to argue.

For people wondering why everyone is so interested in this bargain product, it’s worth remembering that India is the fastest-growing smartphone market behind China. Could we seeing these wallet-friendly phones heading our way soon? I certainly hope so.