In June local service provider Vodacom confirmed that it had plans to launch an aggressively priced smartphone to the local market.

At the time it was expected that the operator would launch the ZTE Vodafone 546 (Laurence) at a price of R400 within the coming months.

MyBroadband now reports that Vodacom has lifted this price to R600, for an undisclosed reason. In addition, Vodacom has confirmed that the device will be available for purchase towards the end of July.

The Vodafone 456 features a 2.2” TFT display with a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels, a 2 Megapixel camera, microSD support, 236.8 kbps EDGE and GPRS connectivity, Bluetooth 2.1 and WAP. Also included is an MP3 player, FM radio, organizer, voice memo and a speakerphone.

A touch-screen version of the 546, the Vodafone 453 will also be released at the same time for an expected retail price of R499. It will feature a 2.4” display, FM radio, MP3/MP4 player, a 1.3 Megapixel camera and MicroSD support.