Smartphone made by Google and India's Reliance Jio to be sold for about US$87
FILE PHOTO: A woman walks past the logo of Google during an event in New Delhi, India, August 28, 2018. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi/File Photo
BENGALURU: India's Reliance Industries said on Friday (Oct 29) the low-cost smartphone made by its Jio telecom business and Alphabet Inc's Google will be available in stores from this festive season of Diwali for 6,499 rupees (US$86.81).
The smartphone will be available for an upfront price of 1,999 rupees and the rest can be paid via monthly instalments, Reliance said in a regulatory filing.
The phone's pricing is expected to shake up the lower end of India's smartphone market, the world's second biggest.
The phone will pose a major challenge to Chinese vendors such as Xiaomi and BBK Electronics, owner of the Realme, Oppo and Vivo brands, which currently dominate a US$2 billion market for sub-US$100 smartphones in India.
Jio also aims to use the phone to poach 2G users from rivals Vodafone Idea Ltd and Bharti Airtel Ltd.
The Mumbai-based oil-to-telecoms conglomerate had last month delayed the launch of the smartphone until November, owing to an industry-wide semiconductor shortage.
