Philips takes initiative to lower handset costs to below $20, launches Nexperia Cellular System Solution 5130

Royal Philips Electronics is now launching a great effort to lower handset costs to less than $20 as part of efforts to tap the 3.3 billion potential customers in India, China, Africa, South America and Eastern Europe.

As a first step, Philips has launched the Nexperia Cellular System Solution 5130. It is a sub-$5 system solution that integrates all the electronics needed for a mobile phone. By bringing this to market, Philips is enabling its ODM, OEM and operator partners to lower costs to less than $20. A new ‘low’ indeed in a market that currently only has sub-$40 mobile phones (as the lowest priced).

Philips elaborates that the endeavor would be based at its plant in Shanghai and that the overall goal is to lower total handset costs down to sub-$15 by 2008.

According to the World Bank and EMC, 77% of the people in the world live within range of a mobile phone network. However, only 25% are mobile phone service subscribers. Now, THAT’s a lot of mobile phones to cover…