Reliance Jio to Roll Out Cheap 4G Smartphones (With Google Android)

[Nandan Jha]

Reliance Jio, India’s only VoLTE network across India, is planning to roll out lost-cost 4G smartphones in a big way. According to the Business Standard, the telecommunications company is all set to outsource 100 million handsets by the year-end.

Till now, Reliance Jio has got only 4G feature phones that run on KaiOS.

If the reports are to be believed, Jio has asked the manufacturer to build Android-centric smartphones that can bundle data packs too. Qualcomm’s recent investment of ₹730 crores in Jio platforms triggers the speculation.

Jio Pact with Google:

To those who are unaware, Google had already acquired a 7.7 per cent stake in Jio Platforms with an investment of ₹33,737 crores.

It’s to be noted that Reliance Jio has already tied up with search engine giant Google to optimize 4G and 5G smartphones for the Indian market. The announcement was already made at the 43rd Reliance AGM meeting attended by Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

This could realize the dream of developing entry-level (affordable) 4G smartphones to suit the needs of billions of Indians.

This commercial pact between Google and Reliance Jio could ultimately stop the dominance of Chinese handsets in the budget segment. If this materializes, Chinese conglomerates such as Xiaomi, Realme, OPPO, Vivo etc will definitely feel the heat.

As the Reliance Jio Infocomm’s 4G network is 5G ready, the transition from 4G to 5G is easier when compared to other telecom networks. Ultimately, Jio gets an upper hand even in the smartphone market.

Jio Phone Worldreader BookSmart App:

In another development, the global non-profit education organization Worldreader has tied up with Reliance Jio to bring children’s books to JioPhone users.

With Worldreader BookSmart app, Jio Phone users can access free children books. One can find the new app in the Education category of JioPhone’s app store. It’s a huge database of the online library including books from all niches.

Children will definitely like Worldreader BookSmart’s database that caters storybooks, folk tales, nature, science etc.

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