Mukesh Ambani announces budget smartphone JioPhone Next

JioPhone Next is said to be powered by an optimised version of the Android Operating System that has been jointly developed by Jio and Google, especially for the Indian market.
Sign saying Jio in white against purple background
Sign saying Jio in white against purple background
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During the company’s Annual General Meeting on June 24, Thursday, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani announced 'JioPhone Next', an affordable Android smartphone that has been jointly developed with Google. While addressing the Reliance Industries Limited AGM, Mukesh Ambani said that JioPhone Next will be available from September 10. He said that the ‘extremely affordable’ smartphone will have features such as voice assistant and language translation, among others.

He further said that the smartphone will support the entire suite of applications from both Google and Jio, as well as the Android Play Store through which users will have access to the entire universe of Android Apps. 

JioPhone Next is said to be powered by an optimised version of the Android Operating System, that has been jointly developed by Jio and Google, especially for the Indian market. Some of the features it boasts of are voice assistant, automatic read-aloud of screen text, language translation, and smart camera with augmented reality filters.

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet addressed the 44th Reliance General Body meeting. “I'm excited that today, we can announce the next steps in this vision: Starting with a new, affordable, Jio smartphone, created with Google,” he said. And added that the Google team has optimised a version of their Android OS specially for this device.

“It will offer language and translation features, a great camera, and support for the latest Android updates,” Sundar Pichai said. “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,” he further added. He also announced the new 5G partnership between Google Cloud and Jio.

Sundar Pichai also took to Twitter to announce the news. “Excited to announce the next steps in our partnership with @RelianceJio to accelerate India's digitization, starting with a new affordable Jio smartphone with an optimized @Android experience, and a 5G collaboration between Jio & @GoogleCloud,” he tweeted.

Last year, Google had announced an investment of Rs 33,737 crore for a 7.7% stake in Reliance Industries' technology venture Jio Platforms. 

(With PTI inputs)

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