Microsoft Lumia 430 officially announced as the most affordable Lumia to date at $70

Microsoft has officially announced the Lumia 430, as the most affordable smartphone in the series to date, taking the position from the Lumia 435. The handset is priced at just $70 before taxes and subsidies - a move meant to bring popular apps and Microsoft's services to a broader audience.

In terms of hardware, you get a 4 inch display with a 480 by 800 pixel resolution, 8GB of internal storage which can be expanded through microSD, a 2MP fixed focus camera on the rear, a secondary camera for video calls and a 1.2GHz Snapdragon 200 processor with 1GB of RAM. You also get dual SIM functionality, allowing you to use two carriers' services on the same device. Despite being an entry level device, it should run Windows Phone OS very smoothly, and you should be able to enjoy hit games like Candy Crush Saga and Minecraft Pocket Edition thanks to the 1GB of RAM.

On the software side you get the latest version of Windows Phone 8.1 with the Lumia Denim update. Users of the Lumia 430 will get to enjoy Microsoft's array of pre-loaded apps, including Skype for messaging, voice chats, and video calls, Microsoft Office for handling documents on the go, and OneDrive with up to 30GB of free cloud storage.

The Microsoft Lumia 430 will arrive in stores starting April, in countries like India, Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Belarus, as well as in parts of Pacific Asia and the Middle East. The handset will be available in either black or orange.