The JioPhone Next was supposed to go on sale on Friday, September 10, 2021. It did not. Reliance Industries pushed the launch of the cheap smartphone it built with Google to November and blamed the global shortage of semiconductors.
The news came late Thursday in an exchange filing from Jio, Reliance’s telecom arm. “Both the companies have begun testing JioPhone Next with a limited set of users for further refinement and are actively working to make it available more widely in time for the Diwali festive season,” the filing said. Diwali falls on November 4 this year, and the festive season before it runs about 30 days from October. Indians tend to buy big items then, everything from jewellery to gadgets to cars. Jio added that “this additional time will also help mitigate the current industry-wide, global semiconductor shortages.”
Chips are scarce because the pandemic pushed people into remote work and sent demand for laptops and phones climbing. Several automakers have stopped production as a result.
A phone for the first-time internet user
Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani announced the phone in June at the company’s annual general meeting. He gave no price but called it the most affordable smartphone “not just in India, but globally.” Jio has still not named one. CNET reported talk of a figure below $100, and Jio’s statement said the phone is aimed at people “who will experience the internet for the very first time.”
Ambani’s argument in June was that India cannot become free of 2G without a cheap 4G handset. Nearly 300 million mobile users there are stuck on 2G, he said, because most basic 4G smartphones cost too much.
The phone runs an optimised version of Android with the Play Store. Jio lists the Google Assistant, automatic read-aloud and translation of any text on screen, and a smart camera with filters made for India. Google put Rs 33,737 crore into Jio Platforms last year for a 7.7 per cent stake.
Brokerage Jefferies wrote on September 7 that the phone could reach a market of 540 million people, including 115 million existing JioPhone users and 105 million who now use smartphones costing under $100. “JioPhone Next is Reliance’s next attempt to boost data usage,” it said.
Jio knows how to undercut rivals. When it launched in 2016 with cut-price data and free voice calls, several competitors left the market. It now counts more than 425 million customers, the most of any mobile carrier in India.
Sources
- Reliance, Google delay smartphone launch due to chip shortage
- Google and Jio delay India smartphone launch due to chip shortage – CNET
- Chip shortage pushes Reliance, Google to delay India smartphone launch
