Jio-Google low-cost smartphone: A look at what users can expect

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In 2020, when the world was dealing with the unique situation of COVID-19, Reliance-Jio was busy setting up alliances and raising money for its upcoming offerings.

With companies like Facebook announcing an investment of Rs 43,574 crore in Jio Platforms for a 9.99% stake in an all-cash deal in April, it was only a matter of time that showed similar interest. The search engine giant announced in July 2020 that it will invest $4.5 billion for a 7.73% stake in Reliance-Jio.

The deal promised a low-cost entry-level Android smartphone for the masses. Now another player that will seem to benefit from this deal is Qualcomm. Qualcomm has also recently partnered with Jio’s rival Airtel for leading India into a 5G era, but not with phones but with Qualcomm 5G RAN Platforms to roll-out virtualised and Open RAN-based 5G networks, but the deal with Jio is more than just 5G RAN platforms.

The largest-chipset manufacturer in the world has joined the Google-Jio team to deliver on the promise. The new budget phone is likely to be priced at Rs 4,000.

Qualcomm is one of the biggest chipset manufacturers in the world. They supply chipsets and hardware technology to some of the biggest smartphone OEMs in the world. To name a few, Samsung, Huawei, Xiaomi, realme, Motorola, OPPO, vivo all use Qualcomm’s technology in some form or another in their smartphones. Qualcomm had partnered with Jio with what they call is massification of its 4G VoLTE with the help of Jio Phone iterations that we have seen in the past. Now they want to take that legacy forward in the 5G era with a low-end budget smartphone.

In about a year from now, 5G spectrum is expected to go on auction and Jio would want to capitalise on it. The government has already received bids amounting to Rs 77,000 crore for the 5G spectrum, and Jio’s slow growth in terms of subscribers is a huge concern that the company would want to address by introducing a smartphone in a budget to dominate the market.

Jio Phones were at best a mix between smartphone and feature phones. Jio has tried experimenting with smartphones earlier as well in 2016-17. They, however, were not able to capture the market mostly due to outdated designs, low camera capabilities, and sluggish performance. This time around the Qualcomm partnership might help them make the new phones more consumer-friendly, however, delivering a 5G phone on a budget right now is a distant dream.

Users should also not expect exceptional camera capabilities on this new device from Jio-phone. At best, the image capabilities will just be acceptable and slightly better than the other sub-Rs 5,000 phones available. According to a few media reports, Jio is expected to launch 200 million units of these new phones to flood the market.

Though an ambitious number, there is no doubt that they’ll be able to achieve it since the demand for such phones will surge in tier 3 markets. Also, how they plan to sell these phones right now is unsure, but knowing what Jio has done in the past, these phones will not be SIM-free devices. Jio will bundle them with long-term plans for consumers to stay hooked on to them with minimal fees. If there is a lock-in period, expect a surge in demand for these phones, since India being a price-sensitive market, everyone likes a good deal.

Support in terms of service centers and repairs of these phones will be another major challenge for Jio. But if we speculate on the sub-Rs 4,000 price tag, it won’t be surprising if they come up with a phone replacement model for their customers in the future. It will make business sense to them to replace these phones and get greater customer satisfaction than to set up a network for authorised repair centers and partners.

(Views expressed are personal)