JioPhone Next was announced by Mukesh Ambani at Reliance Industries’ 44th Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Thursday. The new Android smartphone has come as a result of the partnership between Reliance Jio and Google that was announced last year and was revealed by both Mukesh Ambani and Google head Sundar Pichai. It offers an optimised Android experience on top of an entry-level hardware to attract the masses.
The JioPhone Next also offers Google Play store access and features including voice assistant, automatic read-aloud of screen text, and language translation. Speaking at the Reliance AGM, Ambani said, “India still has nearly 300 million mobile users who are unable to escape from inefficient and exorbitant 2G services… because even a basic 4G smartphone remains unaffordable for these users. Last year…Sundar and I had talked about Google and Jio co-developing a next-generation, feature-rich, but extremely affordable smartphone.” While many features of the upcoming phone were revealed, and its launch date of Ganesh Chaturthi, September 10, the price of the phone was not announced yet, only that it will be “the most affordable smartphone not just in India, but globally.”
The launch of the new Jio phone could give a tough fight to companies including Xiaomi, Samsung, and Realme that are offering a list of models in the affordable market segment.
Mukesh Ambani said in the AGM: “We are in the midst of a humanitarian crisis. Its scale, severity and geographical spread are unseen in a century. It has filled the hearts of all Indians with enormous pain and grief.”
Reliance achieved a net debt-free balance-sheet much ahead of March 2021, a promise he made two years ago. Reliance Retail continues to be the undisputed leader in organised retailing in the country, with scale that is more than six times the next competitor. “We are by far the leader in each category. Our O2C biz faced unprecedented challenges by severe economic contraction at the beginning of year. Yet, we were probably the only company globally that operated at near full capacity and was profitable in every quarter. Our retail shareholders have made 4x returns in just one year on their rights shares. RIL’s performance continued to be outstanding; consolidated revenue was at Rs 540,000 crore, consolidated EBITDA was at Rs 98,000 crore, and almost 50% of EBITDA was contributed by consumer businesses.”
Meanwhile, Nita ambani said: “We also launched a Covid testing lab with a capacity of over 15,000 tests per day. We are providing this Pran Vayu–oxygen–to one out of every 10 Covid-19 patients in India… and offering this service to the nation free of cost. You will feel proud to know that today Reliance is producing over 11% of India’s medical-grade liquid oxygen, the highest by a single company at a single location. Across India, we created a total capacity of over 2000 beds for Covid care, all equipped to provide uninterrupted oxygen supply and totally free-of-cost treatment. By the time the second wave hit us, we had set up additional 875 beds for Covid care in Mumbai alone.”