When Reliance Industries group chairman Mukesh Ambani announced that the company would launch a JioPhone Next smartphone at their annual shareholders' meeting earlier this year, mobile phone users in India sat up and took notice.
Because, in a similar development that marked the company's initial entry into the telecom business, Reliance had offered a basic phone along with their mobile service that was launched on December 28, 2002. The day was significant because it also marked the 70th birthday of the company's founder Dhirubhai Ambani.
It took Team Jio just about a few months before informing users that their new smartphone will start shipping soon with reports revealing details about the pricing.
According to a report by ET Now, the JioPhone Next could be available for as little as Rs 500 upfront with bank offers for the base model. And the higher end of the two models could be priced at Rs 700 initially. This is the exact cost that Reliance had charged for its CDMA-technology based handset two decades ago, an event that proved to be a game changer as other companies were forced to match up.
Reliance JioPhone Next pricing details
The two JioPhone Next variants have a price of Rs 5,000 and Rs 7,000 respectively. But Reliance has announced that is it partnering with multiple banks that include the likes of State Bank of India, Piramal Capital, IDFC First Assure, and DMI Finance. And these banks will play a crucial role in bringing down the initial price of the devices.
According to the report, Reliance will have an offer where customers would have to pay only 10% of the total value of the phone initially with the rest getting paid in via monthly instalments.
This essentially means that users have to pay the full price for the JioPhone Next they buy, but have the option to complete that at a later date. But we would suggest that users take this news with a grain of salt and wait for the official announcement from the company.
Reliance JioPhone Next: Leaked specs
The Reliance JioPhone Next is set to launch on September 10. It could feature a 13MP OV13B10 sensor on the back and a 8MP GC8034W sensor on the front. The device has a working model name "LS-5701-J". It will run on Android 11 (Go Edition) and will have a QM215 platform.
The JioPhone Next may have a display resolution of 1440x720, which was revealed by the boot animation which also says "Created with Google". The design of the smartphone was revealed at the AGM itself which shows that it comes with a loudspeaker grille on the back amid a polycarbonate body and the Jio logo bang in the middle. This smartphone features thick bezels on the top and bottom of the display. There's also a power button and volume rockers on the right hand panel.
According to the leaks it will come with "DuoGo" preinstalled on it but it seems this isn't a separate Go-optimized build of Duo at the moment. It also seems to feature a newer version of Google Camera Go.
- Reliance JioPhone Next specs and details leaked, courtesy code digging
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