Reliance Jio’s Rs. 500 feature phone rumored to be out within a month

Maxi Kell
Maxi Kell
Jul 27, 2017 · 3 min read

As mobile phone manufacturers and service providers are busy coming up with offers to increase their share in the flourishing smartphone market, Reliance Jio seems to be thinking out of the box by offering advanced technology in a plain-Jane model. The Reliance Jio 4G-VoLTE feature phone, which has been spoken about for a long time now, is finally expected to see the light of day. According to some media reports, the new mobile phone will be launched under the brand name, LYF and sold through Reliance Jio and Reliance Retail stores.

The idea of launching a feature phone with 4G is to shift users of 2G to the high-speed-network segment with a cheap handset. After substantial subsidizing, the feature phone is expected to be priced at around Rs. 500. The nominal pricing might come as a huge blow to smartphone makers like Lava and Micromax, who have earlier introduced 4G feature phones, but at a much higher price of around Rs. 3,000.

Image Source: GoAndroid

It may be noted here that after Reliance Jio took the smartphone market by storm with its Happy New Year offer and later the Dhan Dhana Dhan campaign, its growth has kind of been dwindling. Clearly, the impending announcement about the feature phone is a step towards increasing the market share that the company had managed to grab at the onset. The latest mobile phone is expected to pave the way for strengthening the company’s foothold.

Apparently, the company’s over 100 million subscribers’ base in the country has remained more or less stagnated. The Reliance Jio 4G-VoLTE feature phone announcement is expected to take place at the AGM of Reliance Industries on June 21.

About 20 million 4G-VoLTE handsets are being brought in from Chinese Original Device Manufacturers. The phones are being planned for a month-end or August 15 release.

The new feature phone, which has been tested at Reliance Jio facilities in Chennai, is rumored to have 512 MB RAM and 4 GB internal storage. Additionally, the phone will be able to take SD cards to expand the memory. The camera on the phone will offer a resolution of 2 MP. Moreover, the phone will be Wi-Fi- and NFC-enabled for convenient online browsing and transactions.

The move certainly seems like a positive one, in that, more people can now have affordable access to high-speed Internet. However, being a feature phone, the 4G-VoLTE will only be able to offer quick Internet access for video streaming and payment transfers, at most.

Apart from the launch of the feature phone, Jio has come up with new tariff plans too. A new 84-day, 84 GB plan is available for Rs. 399, which caps 4G data usage up to 1 GB per day for 84 days. Also, the recently concluded Jio Dhan Dhana Dhan offer has been extended by another 84 days. These plans are part of the Summer Surprise offer of the telecom company.

It’s interesting to note the kind of measures Reliance Jio is taking to storm back into the game. In particular, India’s response to the 4G-VoLTE mobile phone is something to look out for.

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