Reliance Jio mulls Android Go-based smartphone at throwaway price: Report

After revolutionising the Indian mobile phone market with the effectively free 4G feature phone, Reliance Retail is planning to launch an ultra-affordable 4G smartphone based on Android Oreo Go edition, according to a news report in the Economic Times.

The smartphone would be launched under Lyf brand and might use chipset manufactured by Taiwan-based chipset manufacturer — MediaTek.

According to the report, Reliance would employ the same strategy as the company did for Jio Phone — the smartphone would be bundled with Jio SIM and the company might subsidise the price for greater reach.

The move came after incumbents operator partnered with mobile phone manufacturers to offer devices at an effective price as low as Rs 999.

Reliance Jio, according to the report, might subsidise the smartphone to match the competition pricing; or might even offer a better deal.

The Google Android Oreo Go is a highly optimised version of Android Oreo. The operating system is designed to work on budget smartphones with limited hardware prowess. It comes with a dedicated set of apps from Google, which according to the company takes less space than conventional apps found in the regular version of Android Oreo.

Recently, Micromax announced the launch of Android Go-based affordable smartphone, which is expected to be launched at around Rs 2,000.