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Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries will be launching an Android Go powered low-cost smartphone, JioPhone Next, on September 10. As per market research company Counterpoint Research, it is expected to be priced at around Rs 5,580 ($75). This low-priced mass-market 4G-enabled smartphone which has been developed in partnership with Google is expected to give a massive boost to smartphone adoption and total device shipment this year, Counterpoint added. This smartphone is primarily meant for people from low-income groups who cannot buy regular smartphones.

Counterpoint’s research analyst Ankit Malhotra said though no major activity has been seen in this price-point over the last two years and if things go as expected, it might push the Indian smartphone market into a period of hyper-growth.

 2G- free India

Earlier in June, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani had said that the JioPhone Next will be launched on September 10 and will help India become “2G mukt” (2G-free India). He had not divulged details pertaining to the pricing. Jio is aiming towards achieving a user base of 500 million over the next 12-18 months by targeting the majority of the 300 million 2G users which are currently with Bharti Airtel and Vodafone India. Their current user base as of June-end stands at 441 million.

Brokerage Jefferies Group expects JioPhone Next to be more attractive to the current JioPhone users rather than directly appealing to the 2G subscribers of Airtel or Vodafone Idea. As per Counterpoint’s evaluation, in this calendar year, India’s smartphone shipments will grow by 14% year-on-year and will reach a record high of 173 million, out of which 100 million will be shipped in the second half of the year. It added that 19% of the total shipments will be made up of 5G devices.

Features

The JioPhone Next’s operating system will be based on Android 11 and the users will be getting the basic Android phone experience. Users will get access to all the services of Google like software updates, Google Assistant and Google Play store. However, phone users won’t be able to download popular games and streaming apps owing to hardware limitations. It might come with a low-end Qualcomm chipset, QM215 along with a 64-bit CPU and dual ISP support. In addition to all this, it will have a 13MP back camera and an 8MP front-facing camera.