We heard about Jio’s 4G VoLTE feature phone a couple of days ago. Much to our surprise, it has now been learned that the handset will actually be produced by Indian OEM Intex Technologies. While the company couldn’t share details on the expected pricing, it is said that Jio will gauge the market situation accordingly before coming to a decision. It has been confirmed that the phone will reach the markets by August.
Intex specifies that the handset will only be sold by Jio in the country, so interested customers won’t be able to get it directly from Intex. The handset will apparently be priced according to a subsidy model by Reliance Jio in the country. In terms of perks and features, we expect this feature phone to be pretty much on par with Jio’s LYF handsets, although being a feature phone, the device is bound to have some hardware limitations.
It has been mentioned that the handset will run a forked version of Firefox OS known as KaiOS, which in turn could receive Jio branding when it officially reaches the markets. The handset is also expected to be packing a 2.4-inch display, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of expandable storage, a 2MP rear camera, and a VGA front camera for video calls. Features like VoLTE, GPS, and MIMO are also expected to be present. It seems like the phone will be branded under Jio’s LYF brand in the country.
This could prove to be a smart move by Reliance Jio, potentially disrupting the sales of several mobile manufacturers. There’s no doubt that mobile carriers will also be hit by this new move.
