Microsoft Once Again Aims Low With Windows 10-Ready, $70 Lumia 430 Dual SIM Smartphone

How low can the price of a newly launched Lumia handset go? Each time we think we have the answer to that question, Microsoft announces yet another model that's billed as the "most affordable Lumia to date," which this time is a distinction that belongs to the new Lumia 430 Dual SIM. Priced at just $70, Microsoft is making it easier than ever to own your first Windows Phone.

The Lumia 430 Dual SIM comes loaded with Windows Phone 8.1 and will see an upgrade to Windows 10 when it becomes available later this year. As such, it qualifies as the most affordably priced Lumia handset capable of installing Microsoft's forthcoming OS upgrade.

Lumia 430 Dual SIM

It has a 4-inch WVGA (800x480; 235 ppi) display powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor and 1GB of RAM, the latter of which bodes well for Windows 10 (phones with 512MB of RAM won't have access to all of Windows 10's features).

Other features include 8GB of built-in storage expandable via microSD (plus 30GB of OneDrive storage), 0.3-megapixel front-facing camera, 2-megapixel rear-facing camera, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, Smart Dual SIM (so you can assign unique profiles to your SIM cards), and a removable 1,500 mAh battery.

Microsoft says the Lumia 430 Dual SIM will be available in APAC, IMEA, Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and Belarus starting next month.