Reliance Jio, Google allegedly working on a budget 4G smartphone

Reliance Jio is expected to unveil 4G enabled feature phones priced below Rs. 1,500. But it looks like the company won't stop right there. There are fresh reports suggesting that Jio is working on an affordable smartphone.

Going by the report from TheHinduBusinessLine, Google and Reliance Jio have teamed up to develop an affordable smartphone, which will exclusively work on the latter's 4G network. This smartphone is believed to be announced before the end of 2017. Undoubtedly, the Google branding will boost the sales of the Reliance Jio 4G smartphone. Also, the Jio apps will be highly integrated into the Android platform.

As Google will be roped in to make the smartphone from Reliance Jio, it would mark Google's second attempt at the Android One project, which wasn't successful. If you don't remember, back in 2014, Google teamed up with Micromax, Spice, and Karbonn to launch the Android One smartphones priced at Rs. 6,500.

Jio 4G feature phones worth Rs. 999 and Rs. 1,499 can stand against Nokia 3310 buzz

Reliance Industries' retail arm, Reliance Retail, is right now working with Chinese ODMs in order to procure 4G VoLTE smartphones as well as pocket routers in addition to Foxconn. The company is sourcing these products from a number of Chinese ODMs.

Besides an affordable 4G smartphone, Reliance Jio and Google are working together on developing software for the smart TVs to be launched by the telco later this year.

Earlier reports point out that Reliance Jio is working with India-based Lava International and some Chinese manufacturers to make the VoLTE feature phone. Jio is also rumored to subsidize a part of the selling price in order to make the 4G feature phones available at Rs. 1,000.