Most Important Phone of 2021
Updated: Jul 5, 2021
It's not iPhone 13 or the Note 21 Ultra, JioPhone Next is what we are talking about. Here is why it's important
The Price:
Source: Reliance Jio
JioPhone Next will cost less than 5,000 INR (which is less than 65 US dollars), although+ the exact price hasn't been confirmed yet, Reliance claims it to be the cheapest 4G smartphone ever but what makes things even more interesting is what's inside the phone and the cheap data it will offer (as Jio is the world's 2nd largest mobile data carrier as well).
What's inside?
Source: Reliance Jio
Although Reliance didn't announce the exact specs, here is what we know-
It will run a version of Android (most likely Android Go) co-developed by Google and Jio, with India-specific features, like Snapchat's in-built India specific camera filters, making it world's first smartphone camera to arrive with inbuilt snapchat filters.
It's a 4G phone with dual SIM card slots.
It comes with read aloud and translate now features (which is pretty useful in a diverse country like India because of the wide variety of languages)
Other than the snapchat filters, the camera is like any entry level android phone's camera with a single camera and flash.
Backstory of Jio and why Jiophone Next is important
Source: India Today
Jio democratized Internet access for Indians earlier in 2016 by launching welcome offers which were essentially free or pretty cheap, which prompted competitors to reduce their costs in order to stay competitive and thus brought millions of Indians online. Although Jio doesn't offer free data now, the impact of that plan is still visible because India has world's cheapest data plans today.
Apart from that the original JioPhone and JioPhone 2, (both were 4G feature phones running KaiOS that have sold over 100 Million units, although JioPhone 2 was not as big of a success as the original JioPhone, it sold quite a few units as well) thus bringing millions of Indians to a 4G plan, according to counterpoint research nearly 26 percent of Jio's 4G plan users are coming from the Jio phone. So in case JioPhone Next is successful, it would create a major impact not just in India but the entire globe, here is why.
How does the JioPhone Next impact you?
Source: Statista
Which brings us to 2021, India has increased it's Internet penetration from 34.8% in 2016 to 50% today which is impressive but it also means that about 600 Million people in India are yet to connect to the Internet and even the ones who have connected aren't using quality smartphones or getting high quality internet, the JioPhone Next (if successful) will fix both of these problems for millions of Indians. Another key opportunity which Jio mentioned while announcing the phone was the fact that India still has around 300 Million 2G users who they are looking to onboard by launching this phone. All of this basically means that we could potentially end up witnessing the second wave of Indian Internet adoption in the form of new creators, consumers and applications made for or by India. So in case you are a developer or creator keeping India in mind while creating something could be useful for the growth of your venture because of the immense potential audience (both existing and upcoming).
They might be going global...
Source: Counterpoint Research
The CEO of Jio and Reliance(the parent company of Jio) Mr. Mukesh Ambani, had mentioned that the JioPhone Next might enter other markets if they are successful back home which makes a lot of sense, seeing their partnerships with global giants like Google, Qualcomm, Facebook and Intel. If so the impact on the creator economy, internet consumption will be even larger than what I have mentioned in the previous paragraph.
Why they might win
Jio has a huge opportunity up for grabs (as mentioned earlier), a lot of users who would switch to 4G and also (potentially) enter the Jio Ecosystem in future. Apart from this here are a few important reasons-
It's the cheapest 4G smartphone ever and it's hard for any other company to offer a package like that without making a loss (as Jio can eventually make up for it by the data packages and services they sell)
Similar to the first point, Jio can make a loss while selling this phone as Reliance it's parent company is around 150 billion and they have already done this while launching Jio and later making it profitable. Due to which it won't be surprising if they do something similar with the JioPhone Next as well.
The market : Due to the pandemic and tensions at the border, India has seen an upsurge in the demand of Made in India products, which makes Jio's timing make a lot of sense.
Despite all of the above, critics have highlighted various reasons which might cause it to not succeed like distribution, cost incurred and pricing strategy. Since we don't have any information regarding the 3, I would be curious to see how they tackle these problems and how does JioPhone Next impact the creator economy and internet in future.
Well that's my take on the JioPhone Next and I hope it made you think or learn something new, in case you did either of the two then let me know your thoughts by tweeting @kine_tech, the best responses will also be shared on our twitter handle.
Resources: JioPhone Next specs by Gadgets 360
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