Reliance Jio and Google had last year joined hands together and announced that they would work together to introduce a low-cost smartphone for the Indian market. But since the announcement in Reliance Industries Limited’s (RIL’s) Annual General Meeting (AGM), neither of the companies were too vocal about the smartphone. According to a PTI report, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google said that both the companies are still working closely and developing the low-cost smartphone which can fit well in the Indian market.
Google is Working With Jio to Develop the Low-Cost Smartphone
Pichai said that Google would help Jio in developing a low-cost smartphone. But the Google CEO didn’t reveal any single detail about the smartphone. Pichai was speaking in a virtual conference that included only select reporters from the Asia Pacific. For the unaware, Google had acquired a 7.7% stake in Jio Platforms by paying a handsome sum of Rs 33,737 crore. A thing worth noting here is that Google understands the smartphone market better than Reliance Jio because the search-engine giant already manufactures its Pixel smartphones and sells them across the world. However, even this would be a new experience for Google since the company has only focused on mid-range or high-end smartphones with its Pixel offerings. There is no clear timeline given by either of the companies for the launch of the smartphone. It might arrive this year or next year, or the year after that. Both the companies can introduce a 5G smartphone in the same way Jio launched JioPhone for its 4G offerings. Since 5G networks are expected to go live in India by the first half of 2022, the low-cost 5G smartphone would make a lot of sense for the market. Pichai further talked about Google’s plans of investing Rs 75,000 crore ($10 billion) over the next five to seven years in India. The Google CEO said that the company is looking for new opportunities where it can invest its planned funds into India. One thing is for sure, whenever Google and Jio announce their low-cost or affordable smartphone in India, it will be a super hit right away because of the stock Android it is expected to come with and the expected 5G support.
