A $4.5 billion deal under which Alphabet’s Google will collaborate with India’s Reliance Industries on a new smartphone likely heralds a big shake-up for the world’s second-largest mobile market, reported Reuters.
Reliance boss Mukesh Ambani, announcing the partnership at his company’s annual meeting last week, said Google would build an Android operating system (OS) to power a low-cost “4G or even 5G” smartphone that Reliance would design.
The new phone is set to pose a major challenge to Chinese vendors such as Xiaomi and BBK Electronics, owner of the Realme, Oppo and Vivo brands, which currently dominate a $2 billion market for sub-$100 smartphones in India.
Powered by a clever mix of Bollywood, cricket-driven marketing and product features such as powerful cameras, the Chinese firms sell roughly eight of every 10 smartphones in the country.
“If history is anything to go by, Reliance will undercut other brands and pose a real threat to the low-end smartphone market,” said Rushabh Doshi of tech researcher Canalys.
Reliance executed a similar plan in 2017 with the launch of the JioPhone, a no-frills device that gave users internet access for as little as $20. JioPhone now has more 100 million users, many of whom are internet first-timers.
