HMD just dropped a device that feels like a glitch in the matrix of modern smartphone pricing. The Touch 4G, priced at 3,999 INR (roughly $48) and launched for the Indian audience, is what happens when someone actually listens to the massive chunk of the global population that doesn’t need or want a 6.7-inch AMOLED slab with a camera system that costs more than their monthly rent. To be fair, the Indian market is flooded with cheap smartphones from Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, Realme, and local brands like Micromax and Karbonn. A lot of these phones inevitably cross the $70 mark, which means budget-constrained users still flock to ‘dumb phones’ or feature phones. HMD’s $48 audacious bid hopes to upend that.
What HMD is calling a “hybrid phone” is basically a feature phone that got into a transporter accident with a smartphone, and somehow it actually works. The result is weird in the best possible way. You get a proper touchscreen experience crammed into a 3.2-inch display, which sounds laughably small until you remember that the original iPhone rocked a 3.5-inch screen and people lost their minds over it.
Designer: HMD Global
The spec sheet reads like someone played a game of “what’s the absolute minimum we can put in here and still call it useful in 2025?” The UNISOC T127 processor paired with 64MB RAM (yes, Megabytes) won’t win any benchmark wars, but here’s the thing: it doesn’t need to. This device runs a stripped-down OS that’s optimized for exactly what it does, which is make calls, send texts, handle video calls, and provide WiFi hotspot functionality. That last feature alone makes this compelling because you’re essentially getting a mobile hotspot for $48 that happens to also be a phone. The phone also packs a measly 128MB of internal storage (about 15 iPhone selfies worth), but can be upgraded to 32GB via the card slot on the side.
Here’s the kicker that separates this from actual smartphones: the Touch 4G runs on RTOS Touch, a custom lightweight real-time operating system, not Android. Everything “smart” about this phone happens through HMD’s Cloud Phone service, which hosts browser-based apps that run remotely rather than on the device itself. That explains the shockingly low 64MB of RAM and 128MB of internal storage. The Express Chat app that comes pre-installed is cross-platform compatible with Android and iOS users, meaning you’re not locked into a proprietary messaging ecosystem that only works with other Touch 4G users. This cloud-based approach is simultaneously brilliant and concerning. Brilliant because it keeps the hardware dirt cheap and the device responsive despite minimal specs. Concerning because your phone’s functionality is entirely dependent on HMD maintaining these cloud services, which means the device could become significantly less useful if the company decides to sunset the platform in three or four years.
The camera situation is predictably grim with a 0.3MP selfie camera and a 2MP rear shooter, but let’s be real about what this is for. These aren’t cameras in the Instagram sense. They’re video call enablers and emergency document scanners. The 0.3MP front camera is basically VGA quality, which is fine for WhatsApp video calls where everything’s compressed to hell anyway. The 2MP rear camera with flash at least lets you capture something when you need proof of that parking spot damage or want to snap a picture of a document. Nobody’s expecting Night Mode or computational photography here.
Battery life claims of 30 hours from a 1,950mAh cell sound ambitious until you factor in the tiny screen, low-power processor, and the fact that this thing isn’t constantly syncing seventeen different social media apps in the background. Feature phones have always dominated on battery life because they’re not doing the thousand tiny tasks that drain modern smartphones. Add in Bluetooth 5.0, GPS with Beidou support, a headphone jack (remember those?), and an IP52 rating for dust and splash resistance, and you’ve got something that actually makes sense for its target market. That IP rating matters more than people think because phones at this price point usually skip any kind of protection, meaning a single monsoon downpour can brick your device.
The real genius here is recognizing that there’s a massive market gap between dumb feature phones and entry-level Android smartphones that typically start around 7,000-8,000 INR. HMD is betting that people who need connectivity but don’t need the full smartphone experience will pay 4,000 rupees for something that bridges that divide. The WiFi hotspot feature alone could make this a second device purchase for people who want to keep their main phone’s data separate or need a backup connectivity option. The cloud phone services integration gives you access to news, weather, and an Express Chat app without needing the full Google Play Store ecosystem, which keeps things simple and arguably more secure.
What makes this launch genuinely interesting is the timing. We’re seeing a global pushback against smartphone complexity, with dumbphone sales actually ticking up in developed markets as people try to disconnect from the attention economy. But in markets like India, it’s not about digital detox aesthetics. There are still hundreds of millions of people who either can’t afford or don’t need flagship features but do need reliable connectivity in the 4G era. HMD isn’t trying to be Apple or Samsung here. They’re carving out territory that those companies abandoned years ago, and there’s something refreshing about a product that knows exactly what it is and doesn’t apologize for it. The Touch 4G won’t change the tech landscape, but it might actually change some lives, which is ultimately more important than another iterative flagship that costs twenty times as much.
The post HMD’s $48 Smartphone with 4G Is Disrupting India’s Budget Phone Market first appeared on Yanko Design.