Bell now has its very own Android smartphone brand

The North American smartphone market isn’t particularly known to have great budget smartphones. There are only a handful of manufacturers competing, and carriers generally control the outcome. In a bid to take matters into its own hands, Bell is expanding to the smartphone category.

Bell is Canada’s largest telecommunications company with more than 12 million wireless subscribers. It is also the parent company of Virgin Plus and Lucky Mobile, which use the same networks but have a different intended audience. In an interesting vertical integration move, Bell will now sell smartphones under a new brand called Ahlo (via Mobile Syrup).

Designed for C̶a̶n̶a̶d̶a̶ carriersBell says that the Ahlo phone was designed in Canada for “value-conscious users”. It’s priced at C$270 ($200) outright, but for a limited time, Bell and Virgin Plus subscribers can get it for just $1 a month. It will also be available at retail outlets such as Best Buy Express, The Mobile Shop, Staples, Tbooth Wireless, Visions Electronics, Wireless Kiosk @Costco, and WirelessWave.

Bell hasn’t confirmed who the manufacturer of Ahlo is, or where it will be assembled — but the price point suggests that it is a foreign ODM device rebadged for the carrier. The tagline “the great good phone” is a bit of a stretch, though, especially once you look at its design and specifications. It’s not particularly bad and makes a lot of sense at that price, but don’t expect it to win any awards.

The Ahlo 1 smartphone is powered by the Samsung Exynos 1330 processor (eight cores, 5nm) along with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Paired with a 5,000 mAh battery, it should offer long battery life. While it charges over USB Type-C, a charger is not included in the box. The screen spans 6.58 inches and has a Full HD+ resolution with Panda Glass protection on top.

Other Ahlo 1 specs features include a triple-camera setup with a 50MP primary shooter, a 5MP ultra-wide lens, and a 2MP macro shooter, along with a 32MP selfie camera. The power button also has a fingerprint scanner built in. It comes with Android 14 out of the box, supports 5G+ networks, and has a 2-year warranty.

It’s not common to see carriers become smartphone makers, so this decision is a little surprising. Having said that, for $1 a month, there could be enough takers to warrant an expansion like this.