Smartphone Makers Aim at Emerging Markets With Low-End Devices

Companies eager to capture growth in emerging markets are working off a different benchmark: Which phone is least expensive.

At the annual Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona, several established companies have been showing off phones priced below $200. High-end phones from Apple and Samsung dominate developed markets. But as component costs drop and features get more similar, making it harder to distinguish between smartphones, pressure on those companies' pricing power and profit margins could intensify. About 800 million phones with more limited functions than smartphones were sold in 2013 globally, according to Rajeev Chand, a managing director at boutique investment bank Rutberg & Co. "The lower end of the segment is where all the growth is," Chand said.