Safaricom, Intel Introduce Yolo, Smart Phone for Cost Conscious Kenya Consumers

Safaricom Limited has launched the "Yolo" smart phone, touted as the first smart phone for Africa.

The Yolo is the third model with  Intel branding . 

Yolo is powered by the Intel Atom Z2420 processor (1.2GHz. It also comes with a 3.5-inch touch screen, a 5-megapixel camera with full HD video capture support, FM radio and HSPA+ support.

"We're redefining what cost-conscious Kenyans can expect from a smartphone," said Peter Arina, general manager, Safaricom' s Consumer Business Unit.

The device is aimed at the growing number of cost-conscious and first-time buyers in Kenya who do not want to sacrifice device performance or user experience for cost, Intel says.


The Yolo smartphone will be sold in Safaricom shops countrywide at the entry price of Kshs. 10,999 (about US $125) and comes bundled with a free 500 MBytes of data.

In some ways, the surprise here is the Intel brand being associated with a smart phone, in something other than an "Intel Inside" sense. That might not be so unusual in the future, as any number of mobile service providers might want their own branded phones, in some cases to better integrate with a carrier's own software and applications.