Africa’s ‘first’ locally designed smartphone unveiled in DRC

A smartphone, which is christened "elikia", meaning "hope" in the local Lingala language, has been unveiled in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and has been trumpeted as being the first smartphone to be designed by a company in Africa. The device will have a 3.5 inch touchscreen display, a memory of 512 MB and a 650 MHz processor and five megapixel camera.

The handset was designed by a company called VMK, headed by Verona Mansour. He said that he had invested US$120,000 in the development of the handset, which will be produced in China for the Francophone market.

The smartphone is expected to sell for around US$160 when it goes on sale towards the end of next month.