Indian smartphone maker Intex may manufacture the Reliance Jio feature phone. Intex is reported to be in ‘Final Stages’ of talks with Reliance. The Jio feature phone is expected to come with exclusive data plans. The phone is expected to launch at Reliance AGM (Annual General Meeting) to be held on Friday, July 21st.
Gadgets 360 has reported that Intex is in the final stages of talks and may manufacture the Jio feature phone. The device will be a 4G VoLTE enabled phone with basic features. The phone is expected to come with in-built Jio entertainment apps.
‘Lyf’ branding
Earlier, we had reports about Reliance placing 18-20 million units of Jio feature phone with Chinese OEMs. Crave and Megaphone are some of the OEMs who may manufacture the phone for Reliance.
This means the first wave of Jio feature phone may come from Chinese manufacturers. Also, we reported leaks of the phone, branded under ‘Lyf’ brand. Lyf is known as Reliance Lyf and manufactures affordable 4G VoLTE smartphones. Reports also suggest that Reliance will determine the price of this phone.
Reliance is likely to subsidize this device as they target a major chunk of the Indian population which uses feature phones. This subsidy will price the Jio feature phone somewhere between Rs. 500 to Rs. 1,000, which is a great deal.
We also know that Indian manufacturers like Lava and Micromax are in talks with Reliance about bundled data on their 4G feature phones.
Jio 4G LTE Feature Phone Specifications
The Jio feature phone will be a basic feature phone with 4G capabilities. We earlier reported the device to have a 2.4-inch QVGA display. It will come with a dual-core Spreadtrum chipset clocked at 1.2GHz. The phone will have 512MB RAM and 4GB internal memory. The Jio Feature phone will also support expandable storage via microSD card, along with Dual Sim support.
Intex may get to manufacture the Jio feature phone in later stages. If the phone launches at Reliance’s AGM scheduled on Friday, it is most likely to come from Chinese manufacturers as the Intex deal is not yet final.