Jio and Google’s budget Android phone delayed till Q1 next year

JioPhone
(Image credit: Future)

Reliance Jio’s ambitious plan to launch budget 4G Android phones seems to have gotten delayed a bit. These phones are now expected to launch in the first quarter of next year as opposed to the December launch schedule that was initially planned.

The decision to launch affordable 4G phones was aimed at upgrading the 2G feature phone users to a 4G phone under what Jio calls as “2G mukt Bharat” campaign. However, it has been reported that the devices are still in their testing phase and will take yet three more months to arrive.

The phone is said to be powered by a Qualcomm chipset with an optimized version of Android that is designed to power phones with low specifications. Incidentally, both Google and Qualcomm have invested in Jio Platforms in the recently completed investment spree making both an indispensable part of Jio’s ambitious plans.

Jio, which has been planning to sell over 200 million budget 4G phones over the next two years, wants to sell phones at an affordable price of Rs. 4000 and wants to gradually upgrade the users based in rural areas to the 4G network offering the fastest mobile internet in the country as of now.

Jio had earlier launched the JioPhone 1 and its successor JioPhone 2, which sort of revolutionized the feature phone segment offering faster connectivity without increasing their monthly spends on phone or hampering their feature phone usage.

Over a period of time, Jio is looking to step up the 5G game as well by introducing affordable 5G connectivity as well as cheap 5G smartphones. However, this ambitious plan cannot become a reality till the time 5G is rolled out officially in the country.

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Jitendra Soni

Jitendra has been working in the Internet Industry for the last 7 years now and has written about a wide range of topics including gadgets, smartphones, reviews, games, software, apps, deep tech, AI, and consumer electronics.