Reliance Jio to Launch JioBook Budget 4G Laptop; Priced Expected Under Rs. 15,000

| Updated: Monday, October 3, 2022, 11:04 [IST]

Reliance Jio seems to be aiming to replicate the overwhelming success of its affordable JioPhone in India with a new budget laptop. The alleged JioBook is expected to be priced at $184 (approx. Rs. 15,000) and come embedded with a 4G SIM card. The conglomerate led by Mukesh Ambani has partnered with global giants Microsoft and Qualcomm for its laptop.

As per a report by Reuters citing two sources, the JioBook will use the computing chips from Qualcomm based on technology from Arm Ltd, and the Windows OS maker will provide support for some apps. However, the country's large telecom operator with over 420 million subscribers has not responded to this report.

JioBook to Replicate's JioPhone Success

The Jio laptop allegedly called JioBook will be available for enterprise customers, including government institutes and schools from as early as this month. The report goes on to state that a consumer launch of this affordable laptop could happen in the next three months. Furthermore, the JioPhone 5G, which has been rumored heavily in recent times, will follow suit.

One of the sources said that the JioBook would be produced locally by the contract manufacturer Flex. It is speculated that Jio is aiming to sell "hundreds of thousands" of units of this budget laptop by March next year. As per a report by the research firm IDC, the overall PC shipments in India accounted for 14.8 million units last year and were led by HP, Dell, and Lenovo.

Affordable Jio Laptop: What to Expect?

The arrival of the JioBook will extend the total addressable laptop market by another 15%, stated Tarun Pathak, a Counterpoint analyst. It is speculated that the affordable laptop from Reliance Jio will run the company's proprietary JioOS and will support apps that can be downloaded from the JioStore. Also, the company pitches this laptop as an alternative for tablets and corporate employees who are out of the office.

If the JioBook meets all expectations, we can expect it to disrupt the laptop market with its pricing and capabilities. Notably, the company is not new to bringing such disruptions as it did the same to the telecom market with its 4G services back in 2016 and the JioPhone models that are bestsellers in the budget mobile phone market.