Smartphone made by Google and Jio to be sold for about $87

Reliance Industries said on Friday 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 Deepavali for Rs 6,499 ($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 $2 billion market for sub-$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 till November owing to an industry-wide semi-conductor shortage.

0

0