India’s Reliance Industries said the low-cost 4G smartphone made by Google will be available in stores from this festive season of Diwali for 6,499 rupees or $86.8.
The budget 4G smartphone – powered by Qualcomm chipset — will be available for an upfront price of 1,999 rupees and the rest can be paid via 18 or 24 monthly installments, Reliance said in a regulatory filing.
The phone’s pricing is expected to shake-up the lower end of India’s smartphone market, the world’s second biggest.
The phone will 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.
Reliance Jio, the #1 telecom operator in India, also aims to use the phone to poach 2G users from rivals Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel.
The Mumbai-based oil-to-telecoms conglomerate had last month delayed the launch of the smartphone till November owing to an industry-wide semiconductor shortage.
Smartphone shipments in India fell 5 percent year on year in Q3 2021 to 47.5 million units as vendors struggled with supply issues for low-end models.
Smartphone shipments in Q3 2021 were 47 percent higher than in Q2 2021, as consumer demand bounced back rapidly thanks to the suppression of India’s COVID-19 wave.
China’s Xiaomi maintained its lead, shipping 11.2 million units for a 24 percent share. Samsung remained second with 9.1 million units, accounting for 19 percent of the market. Vivo came third with 8.1 million shipments. Realme remained in fourth place with 7.5 million units, while OPPO finished fifth with 6.2 million.
