Having promised to launch its 5G services in India during the second half of 2021, now Reliance Jio appears to be working on an affordable 5G-enabled device with some help from Google. The internet search giant had invested $4.5 billion in Jio Platforms last July as part of a slew of funds that Reliance had raised that time.
Reliance began advanced 5G tests in India some time ago and now reports suggest that a new smartphone could launch alongside the JioBook, which was slated to arrive some time in the latter half of the year.
Google became the second biggest investor in Jio Platforms with rival Facebook retaining its position as the biggest, having pumped in $5.7 billion last April for a 9.9% stake in the new entity, which has interests in telecom and gadgets.
- Reliance reportedly working on a budget laptop called JioBook
- Relince Jio begins advanced 5G tests in India
A report published by ET Telecom, quoted an unnamed person to suggest that the launch would be in the second half of 2021 and could coincide with Reliance's annual shareholders' meeting scheduled during the August-September timeframe. In the past, most of the company's major announcements came around this time.
Following Google's acquisition of a 7.73% stake in Jio Platforms, the companies had come out with a statement around jointly developing an entry-level 4G smartphone that would be capable of supporting an upgrade in the future to 5G.
The article quoted another executive to suggest that the development of the new device was on track with specifications also getting defined. However, there was still some discussions around the operating system, given the requirement of having a deep integration with other Jio services.
As for the JioBook, XDA had reported that Reliance is in talks with Qualcomm Technologies to develop a laptop that will bring mobile connectivity. This was mentioned by Miguel Nunes, who is the Senior Director of Product Management at Qualcomm Technologies.
And Reliance is also developing JioOS which could very well be based on Android OS and would explain the ease of integrating mobile connectivity. This would also bring down the prices for Reliance to not resort to using Windows. According to the report, the prototype of this laptop runs Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 665 (sm6125) which is an 11nm chipset announced back in 2019.
