Jio And Google Engineers Worked 9 Months For Developing ‘Ultra-Affordable’ 4G Smartphone: Launch Date?

The much-awaited JioPhone Next co-developed with Alphabet Inc.’s Google unveiled by the billionaire Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries Ltd.

A Handset For First Time Smartphone Users

Basically, this handset is designed to target India’s hundreds of millions of first-time smartphone users.

While talking at Reliance’s annual general meeting on Thursday, Mr. Ambani said, “An ultra-affordable 4G smartphone is essential,”.

Further, he told the shareholders while outlining the capabilities of the device that will run a re-engineered version of the Android operating system. 

Features Offered By JioPhone Next

The JioPhone was “built for India” and would deliver translation features, a voice assistant and a great camera, as mentioned by Alphabet Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai who joined the meeting remotely.

interestingly, neither company leader disclosed a price for the handset, which is expected to debut in the Indian market on September 10, which is also the start of the country’s peak shopping and gifting season. 

In terms of pricing, both indicated their plans are to achieve a breakthrough price.

What To Expect

Currently, Jio is India’s leading telecom operator having over 423 million users of voice and data services. 

Moving ahead, the new 4G-capable device will try to entice users of basic phones, who are “trapped in the 2G era,” to make the transition to more advanced hardware, according to Mr Ambani.

If we talk about Google’s efforts, then it marks another effort toward making Android friendlier to more frugal devices further making is accessible to a wider audience of potential users of its services.

Moreover, Google Cloud technologies will form the basis for Jio’s upcoming 5G wireless solutions.

It will also assist in serving the internal needs of online services such as Reliance Retail and JioMart.

For more than nine months, the engineers from the two companies worked to co-develop the JioNext hardware specifications in sync with a modified version of Android.

So that it would maintain a high-end experience without recourse to expensive components. 

The launch is announced nearly a year after Google agreed to buy a $4.5 billion stake in Jio Platforms Ltd., the digital arm of Reliance Industries.