Airtel Offers Intex Aqua LIONS N1 at Rs. 1,649; Will Jio Respond Now?

The race to deliver low-cost, affordable 4G phones has literally converted into the race to the bottom.

Airtel has just announced their new offer for 4G phones, which further lowers the barrier, and makes 4G phones even more accessible and even more cheaper.

How will Jio respond now?

Airtel’s New Offer: 4G Phone For Rs 1649/-

Airtel’s offer is made under their ‘Mera Pehla Smartphone’ campaign, for which they have now partnered with Intex, to offer 4G phone at an effective price of Rs 1649/-.

This handset is called Intex Aqua LIONS N1, and its market value is Rs 3799/-. It has 4-inch screen, 1GB RAM, 8GB internal storage (expandable up to 128GB) and 2MP rear and VGA front camera.

Bharti Airtel Chief Operating Officer (India and South Asia) Ajai Puri said,

“We are really pleased to see the continued positive response to our ‘Mera Pehla Smartphone’ initiative from customers as well as smartphone manufacturers,”

Along with this, Airtel and Intex has also launched Aqua A4 and Aqua S3 at an effective price of Rs 1,999/- and Rs 4,379/-, under the same offer.

While Aqua A4 has market price of Rs 4999/-, it has 1.3 GHz quad-core processor, 1GB RAM and an 8GB internal storage (expandable up to 64GB), 5MP rear and a 2MP front camera.

On the other hand Aqua S3 has a market price of Rs 6649/-, and features 5- inch display, 1.3GHz quad- processor, 2GB RAM, 16GB internal storage (expandable up to 64GB), 8MP rear and 5MP front camera, and 2,450 mAh battery.

But.. What’s The Catch?

Under the special deal, Airtel users have to pay Rs 3,149/- upfront for the handset, after which they are mandated to make 36 monthly recharges of Rs 169 each.

Then comes the offer: After 18 months, the user will get Rs 500/- cashback, followed by a cashback of Rs 1000/- after 36 months. This way, the user will get total cashback of Rs 1,500/-, bringing down the cost of the phone to Rs 1,649/-, which is the effective price of the handset.

Now, one may wonder what if the user recharges their Airtel connection with any amount, other than Rs 169?

Yes, they can do, and they can recharge any amount they wish.

However, in order to get the refund of Rs 500 after 18 months, they will need to make minimum recharge of Rs 3000 within 18 months, and then again Rs 3000 worth of recharge in the next 18 months to avail the next Rs 1000 refund.

Rs 3000/- divided by 18 is Rs 166/-, and this is the reason Airtel recommended Rs 169/- recharge every month for 18 months.

Earlier, Airtel has partnered with Celkon and Karbonn for launching similar low-cost 4G phones.

How will Jio respond now?

We will surely keep you updated.