Reliance plans JioPhone relaunch in first quarter of 2021

Mukesh Ambani's Reliance will relaunch its 4G feature phone, JioPhone, in the first quarter of 2021. The development is a step to cash in on the country's growing market because of the work, study and entertainment from home norm.

The new Reliance JioPhone is being made by contract manufacturer Flex, according to a report.Reliance Jio is looking to target around 20-30 crore mobile phone users who use 2G connection at present, according to news agency PTI.

In October, a company official told PTI that Jio wants to bring a device for less than Rs 5,000. "When we scale up the sales, it can be priced in the range of Rs 2,500-3,000," the official had said.

The relaunch of Jio's 4G phone will be followed up with the proposed Jio-Google Android smartphones that are currently being tested in India, as per sources. Earlier this year, Google invested Rs 33,737 crore in Jio Platforms for a 7.7 per cent stake.

Ambani at Reliance's virtual AGM in July this year had announced Reliance Jio's commercial pact with Google to jointly develop entry-level affordable 4G and possibly 5G smartphones for a '2G mukt Bharat' in the future.Reliance launched JioPhones in 2017 in India which has more than 100 million users, many of whom are internet first-timers.

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