Xiaomi, Realme, And Lava Might Face Significant Impact From Made-In-India JioPhone Next

After revolutionizing the telecom sector, Reliance Jio's upcoming 4G smartphone is expected to pose the biggest challenge to Chinese and Indian handset makers. Besides, the most affordable smartphone is likely to boost upgrade opportunities as feature phone users will start buying new devices.

However, a top executive from a Chinese firm said Jio is not competing with other smartphone makers as the telco only wants to attract users of other telecom operators to its 4G services.

"All major brands had left the below Rs. 7k segment almost two years back as average selling prices started rising and customers demanded better product specifications. The entry segment is not profitable and everyone knows Jio is planning to burn large cash trying to move the sticky feature phone base," he added.

There are chances that more smartphone makers entering into the segment might increase the upgrade market. For the unaware, India's leading smartphone maker Xiaomi is looking at the upgrade market.

On the other hand, the e-commerce marketplace Cashify said that Jio has become the favorite of many users and this new offer will attract users to its platform.

"This new offering from Jio and Google will encourage customers to switch to this device due to the trust value behind it. Brands like Xiaomi, Realme, Lava, & Micromax may face significant impact from this new made-in-India competition since they mostly dominate this price bracket," said Nakul Kumar, COO & co-founder.

Reliance Jio did not reveal the exact specification of the JioPhone Next smartphone, but it is expected that the device will have a smart camera with augmented reality filters, voice assistant, automatic read aloud, off-screen text language translation, smart camera, and more. Notably, domestic handset makers are also planning to bring smartphones under the entry-level segment.

It is worth noting that ever since Reliance Jio announced its partnership with Google for developing a smartphone, handset makers have started focussing on the affordable segment. Realme is planning to launch a 5G smartphone under Rs. 7,000.

The Chinese smartphone maker is likely to launch the smartphone before Diwali, which means handset makers are ready to give a tough fight to the JioPhone Next.