Jio-Google Plan For Phones May Break Chinese Hold On Market

Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo & Realme face threat

- Sankalp Phartiyal

PRICE WAR CLOUDS

• Experts expect the proposed Jio-Google 4G/5G phone undercutting other brands.

• Jio’s 387 mn subscribers & the Google brand name are seen as huge plus points

• Jio also has the backing of top chipmakers Intel and Qualcomm

• But Reliance has not given details about the phone’s price, specifications or who might build it

A $4.5 BILLION deal under which Alphabet’s Google will collaborate with India’s Reliance Industries on a new smartphone likely heralds a big shake-up for the world’s second-largest mobile market, industry executives and analysts say.

Reliance boss Mukesh Ambani, announcing the partnership at his company’s annual meeting last week, said Google would build an Android operating system (OS) to power a low-cost “4G or even 5G” smartphone that Reliance would design.