Reliance Jio Might Join Hands With Itel To Bring Affordable Smartphones

Reliance Jio is likely to join hands with Itel to bring affordable smartphones in May this year. Under this partnership, these companies are expected to launch a smartphone in the Indian market at affordable pricing. These upcoming smartphones are designed for users who want to upgrade from feature phones.

Unfortunately, there is no detail about the specification and name of the upcoming smartphone. The smartphones are expected to be available in May this year, reports IANS. The report said that both Reliance Jio and Itel are likely to disrupt the mobile sector and will make smartphones accessible to all.

Notably, Itel is known for launching smartphones at affordable prices in the country, while Reliance Jio, which is India's largest telecom operator is known for offering cheap tariff plans. So there are chances that Itel's upcoming smartphone might come with a Jio offer.

The report also claims that Itel smartphones might be available at Reliance Digital stores. Also, Reliance Jio and Itel smartphones will be designed for rural masses and will be priced under Rs. 4,000.

Reliance Jio Might Partner With Other Nokia, Lava, And Karbonn

Apart from joining hands with Itel, Reliance Jio wants to launch Jio exclusive smartphones in the country. "The handset bundling and other benefits are geared towards increasing Jio's share of gross adds to the market and, more importantly, retaining existing Jio 4G feature phone users whose contracts are coming up for expiry in the coming months," said AshwinderSethi, Principal at Analysys Mason.

Besides, Reliance Jio is in talks with domestic handset makers like Lava, Karbonn, and Chinese smartphone players to bring affordable devices to the country. The upcoming devices are expected to be priced under Rs. 8,000.

It is worth noting that Jio has been working with Google and Flex to bring affordable 4G smartphones to the country. However, sources close to the development said that this might help Reliance Jio to increase its subscriber base as India has more than 350 million feature phone users, which means there is scope for Jio to attract users towards the affordable 4G smartphones. Besides, these partnerships are expected to help smartphone players to increase their sales.