Nokia Lumia 525 release date: The budget-friendly handset by the Microsoft-owned mobile company will be made available on December 14, with Singapore being the first country where the unit will be made available. The handset is expected to arrive in the U.S. around 1Q of 2014.

According to BGR.com, that the Nokia Lumia 525, together with the earlier released Nokia Lumia 520, are affordable smartphones that will helps Windows Phone make serious inroads in the emerging market. The Nokia Lumia 525 will be available for around $200 off-contract.

Specs of the device include a 4-inch display with a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels, a dual-core 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, a 1430 mAh battery, 5 megapixel camera, 1 GB of system memory and 8GB of internal storage.

BGR notes that the Nokia Lumia 525 is the company’s most important smartphone for 2014.

A wave of budget-friendly models has been arriving in the smartphone market, targeting emerging markets. Motorola, which is owned by Google, has launched the $179 Moto G, which boasts high-quality specs as well as Android 4.3, with a guaranteed upgrade to Android 4.4 KitKat.

Nokia’s mobile division, which manufactures the Lumia line of devices, was purchased by Microsoft last September for $7.2 billion.

“The move unites Windows Phone 8 with its biggest hardware supporter, giving the company the integrated mobile offering it's been looking for with Surface and other devices,” reports The Verge on the acquisition.

With Nokia and Microsoft’s Surface line of tablets, the Redmond tech giant now has an end-to-end control in mobile that only Blackberry and Apple has enjoyed.