AgenciesReliance Jio will launch its Android-based smartphone called Jio Phone Next, a result of its partnership with Google, on September 10.
"JioPhone Next is a fully featured smartphone, supporting the entire suite of applications from both Google and Jio as well as the android smartphone through which users will have access to the entire universe of smartphone apps," said chairman of parent Reliance Industries Mukesh Ambani.
The phone which Ambani termed as " most affordable smartphone " is targeted at the 300 million feature phone users of India. "Jiophone Next is powered by an extremely optimised version of the Android operating system… that has been jointly developed by JIO and Google… especially for the Indian market," the chairman added.
The new phone will have voice assistant, camera, language translation amongst other features.
The partnership between Jio and Google started when in 2020, Google invested $4.5 billion to pick up a 7.73% stake in Reliance’s digital arm Jio Platforms. The investment in Jio Platforms covered almost half of its commitment for its $10 billion India Digitization Fund.
The smartphone comes at a time when Jio's feature phone has sold only 100 million handsets so far. The new phone is also expected to push the telco's average revenue per user (ARPU) and push the low end feature phone users up the tariff charts.
Brokerage firm UBS estimates the device can add 42-30 million subscribers in Jio’s base in the next two-three years, accelerate India's 4G penetration by 15% and add 5-10% to sector average revenues by FY24.
"JioPhone Next is a fully featured smartphone, supporting the entire suite of applications from both Google and Jio as well as the android smartphone through which users will have access to the entire universe of smartphone apps," said chairman of parent Reliance Industries Mukesh Ambani.
The phone which Ambani termed as " most affordable smartphone " is targeted at the 300 million feature phone users of India. "Jiophone Next is powered by an extremely optimised version of the Android operating system… that has been jointly developed by JIO and Google… especially for the Indian market," the chairman added.
The new phone will have voice assistant, camera, language translation amongst other features.
The partnership between Jio and Google started when in 2020, Google invested $4.5 billion to pick up a 7.73% stake in Reliance’s digital arm Jio Platforms. The investment in Jio Platforms covered almost half of its commitment for its $10 billion India Digitization Fund.
The smartphone comes at a time when Jio's feature phone has sold only 100 million handsets so far. The new phone is also expected to push the telco's average revenue per user (ARPU) and push the low end feature phone users up the tariff charts.
Brokerage firm UBS estimates the device can add 42-30 million subscribers in Jio’s base in the next two-three years, accelerate India's 4G penetration by 15% and add 5-10% to sector average revenues by FY24.
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