PremiumThe much-awaited affordable smartphone 'JioPhone Next' is in advanced trials and its festive season roll-out will commence before Diwali, according to a statement by Jio.
Earlier the smartphone was expected to launch today as was announced by Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries Limited on 24 June that JioPhone Next will be available in the market from the auspicious date of Ganesh Chaturthi, 10th September, this year."
In a statement, Jio has now said, "Both companies have begun testing JioPhone Next with a limited set of users for further refinement and are actively working to make it available more widely in time for the Diwali festive season."
This additional time will also help "mitigate the current industry-wide, global semiconductor shortages", the statement further said.
Jio and Google said they have made "considerable progress" towards launching the much-awaited JioPhone Next, the made-for-India smartphone being jointly designed by the companies.
"JioPhone Next is a first-of-its-kind device featuring an optimized operating system based on Android and Play Store," it added.
"JioPhone Next is built with exciting features like the Google Assistant, automatic read-aloud and language translation for any on-screen text, a smart camera with India-centric filters and much more," it said.
Earlier in June, Mukesh Ambani said,"Google and Jio teams have jointly developed a truly breakthrough smartphone that we are calling JioPhone Next.
JioPhone Next is powered by an extremely optimized version of the Android operating system. While being ultra-affordable, JioPhone Next is packed with cutting-edge features like the Google
Assistant, automatic read-aloud of screen text, language translation, smart camera with augmented reality filters and much more. This is testimony to a global technology company and a national technology champion working jointly to make a break-through product.
Speaking about the joint effort, Sundar Pichai, CEO, Google and Alphabet said, “Our vision is to bring affordable access to information for Indians in their own language, to build new products and services for India’s unique needs, and to empower businesses with technology.
I’m excited that today, we can announce the next steps in this vision, starting with a new, affordable Jio smartphone, created with Google. Our teams have optimized a version of our Android OS especially for this device. It will offer language and translation features, a great camera, and support for the latest Android updates. It is built for India and it will open up new possibilities for millions of new users who will experience the internet for the very first time."
