New Delhi: Will the Ambani-Google partnership be able to counter Chinese dominance in the Indian smartphone market? Analysts don’t think so.
As Reliance Jio Announced the launch of the first jointly developed affordable smartphone (JioPhone Next), aimed at enabling a large number of feature phone buyers to capture a data-bundled EMI scheme (18-24 months) after an upfront price of Rs 6,499 or down payment Is. At Rs 1,999, analysts didn’t read much in the challenge.
While the phone aims to tap into around 350-400 million feature phone customers and upgrade, analysts said the EMI plans – starting from Rs 300 and above – are expensive and not very attractive for the target audience.
And while the phone may still catch “a few upgraders” and other smartphone buyers in the Rs 5,000-7,000 price range, it may not be enough to upset the Chinese juggernaut (which includes companies like Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, RealMe, etc.) included) who is God today. More than 80% of the smartphone business.
“I am disappointed and surprised by the price. It is out of sync with the market realities and its price is higher than expected,” Navkendar Singh, Director of Research, IDC told TOI.
“How can you expect a feature phone user, who is spending only Rs 70-80 on his phone bill every month, to pay EMIs of Rs 300 or more for a data-intensive (Rs 600) plan? to do? ”
Counterpoint’s research director Tarun Pathak said the new device from Jio “may not pose much of a threat to Chinese companies”.
“The average selling price (ASP) of smartphones has gone up and the Chinese are focusing more on the above Rs 7,000 category. Jio’s phone falls slightly short of this target.
The phone – which runs on a specially developed operating system (Pragati) based on Google’s Android – however, has several features that the companies describe as unique and attractive to the buyers that Jio-Google is targeting.
It allows translation of content in a choice of 10 Indian languages, reads text on the screen, and provides a digital assistant (like Siri) that answers voice questions.
Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani said that despite the current global supply chain challenges due to the Covid pandemic, the teams at Google and Jio have “succeeded in bringing this breakthrough device” to Indian consumers.
“I have always been a firm believer in the power of the digital revolution to enrich, enable and empower the lives of 1.35 billion Indians. We have done this in the past with connectivity. Now we are re-enabling it with smartphone devices.”
Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said that JioPhone Next is an affordable smartphone designed for India. “To create this, our teams had to work together to solve complex engineering and design challenges, and I am excited to see how millions of people will use these tools to improve their lives and communities. ”
As Reliance Jio Announced the launch of the first jointly developed affordable smartphone (JioPhone Next), aimed at enabling a large number of feature phone buyers to capture a data-bundled EMI scheme (18-24 months) after an upfront price of Rs 6,499 or down payment Is. At Rs 1,999, analysts didn’t read much in the challenge.
While the phone aims to tap into around 350-400 million feature phone customers and upgrade, analysts said the EMI plans – starting from Rs 300 and above – are expensive and not very attractive for the target audience.
And while the phone may still catch “a few upgraders” and other smartphone buyers in the Rs 5,000-7,000 price range, it may not be enough to upset the Chinese juggernaut (which includes companies like Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, RealMe, etc.) included) who is God today. More than 80% of the smartphone business.
“I am disappointed and surprised by the price. It is out of sync with the market realities and its price is higher than expected,” Navkendar Singh, Director of Research, IDC told TOI.
“How can you expect a feature phone user, who is spending only Rs 70-80 on his phone bill every month, to pay EMIs of Rs 300 or more for a data-intensive (Rs 600) plan? to do? ”
Counterpoint’s research director Tarun Pathak said the new device from Jio “may not pose much of a threat to Chinese companies”.
“The average selling price (ASP) of smartphones has gone up and the Chinese are focusing more on the above Rs 7,000 category. Jio’s phone falls slightly short of this target.
The phone – which runs on a specially developed operating system (Pragati) based on Google’s Android – however, has several features that the companies describe as unique and attractive to the buyers that Jio-Google is targeting.
It allows translation of content in a choice of 10 Indian languages, reads text on the screen, and provides a digital assistant (like Siri) that answers voice questions.
Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani said that despite the current global supply chain challenges due to the Covid pandemic, the teams at Google and Jio have “succeeded in bringing this breakthrough device” to Indian consumers.
“I have always been a firm believer in the power of the digital revolution to enrich, enable and empower the lives of 1.35 billion Indians. We have done this in the past with connectivity. Now we are re-enabling it with smartphone devices.”
Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said that JioPhone Next is an affordable smartphone designed for India. “To create this, our teams had to work together to solve complex engineering and design challenges, and I am excited to see how millions of people will use these tools to improve their lives and communities. ”
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