Airtel has announced two new 4G VoLTE enabled smartphones in partnership with domestic handset maker Karbonn, dubbed as the Karbonn A1 Indian and Karbonn A41 Power. The telecom operator has launched these devices under its ‘Mera Pehla Smartphone’ initiative.
Previously, Airtel had also launched two smartphones under this scheme- the Karbonn A40 Indian and the Celkon Smart 4G. These two smartphones are very much similar to the new phones in terms of specs and pricing. Notably, the Karbonn A1 Indian and A41 Power will also come with a bundled plan, and Airtel will offer cashback of Rs. 1,500.
Karbonn A1 Indian and A41 Power
Airtel is offering the Karbonn A1 Indian and A41 Power at an effective price of Rs. 1,799 and Rs. 1,849 respectively. Karbonn, however, sells the Karbonn A1 Indian with an MRP of Rs. 4,390 and A41 Power for Rs. 4,290. But now, users will have to make a down payment of Rs. 3,299 for the Karbonn A1 Indian and a down payment of Rs. 3,349 for the A41 Power to get the phone.
Airtel customers will have to do 36 continuous monthly recharges with Rs. 169 plan. This will make them eligible to get a cash refund of Rs. 500 after 18 months and another Rs. 1,000 after completing 36 months, making the total cash benefit to Rs 1500. The Rs. 169 plan from Airtel offers unlimited calls and 0.5GB data per day for 28 days.
Further, if users do not wish to recharge with Rs. 169 plan, they can do recharges of any amount as per individual requirements. However, to claim the cashback, they have to do recharges minimum worth Rs. 3,000 within the first 18 months.
Unlike the JioPhone, users of these phones will not be required to return the device to the company to claim the cash refund benefit. Airtel clarifies that the customer has the complete ownership of the smartphone and there is no need to return the device to Airtel or Karbonn.
Karbonn A1 Indian and A41 Power specifications
The Karbonn A1 Indian is a new phone while A41 Power was launched back in August. Both the phones have many common features. They both sport a 4-inch WVGA display and run Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box.
In the hardware department, the A1 Indian is powered by a 1.1GHz quad-core processor, while the A41 Power is powered by a 1.3GHz quad-core chipset and both are of unknown models. They both pack 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage that is expandable up to 32GB via microSD card.
Coming to the camera, the A1 Indian sports a 3.2MP camera at the back and a 2MP front-facing camera. While the A41 Power features a 2MP rear camera and a 0.3MP front camera.
Both the smartphones are 4G-VoLTE enabled and the best part of both the phones is that the dual SIM slots are open to all networks. The smartphones come bundled with Airtel’s apps such as My Airtel, Airtel TV, and Wynk Music.
The Karbonn A1 Indian packs a 1,500mAh battery while the Karbonn A41 Power is powered by a 2,300mAh battery. Apart from 4G VoLTE, connectivity options include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and a micro USB port for charging and data transfer.
The Airtel-Karbonn partnership smartphones will now be available on Amazon India as well. The Karbonn A40 Indian is already available, while the A1 Indian and A41 Power will be available starting next week.
We have seen a surge in the segment of budget 4G phones ever since Reliance Jio revealed its JioPhone. To recall, another telco Vodafone India has also tied up with another domestic brand Micromax to launch Bharat-2 Ultra, an affordable 4G smartphone. Similarly, BSNL also joined with its Micromax Bharat-1 4G feature phone. As mentioned Airtel had also launched two 4G smartphones last month.
