Along with the upcoming smartphones such as Google Pixel 2 and Apple iPhone 8; Reliance Jio's 4G Feature Phone is also one of the much-awaited devices of 2017 because of the speculated sticker price tag of below Rs. 1,500. It was more recently that a report revealed that the Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJIL) is looking to launch two feature phones with 4G VoLTE support this year.
Today, a report from 91mobiles says that the feature phone will be launched under the LYF branding, which is another sister brand of Reliance Industries, famous for releasing affordable 4G VoLTE supported smartphones. This was rumoured earlier as well, courtesy of an image of a feature phone with LYF branding leaked online.
Previously, a report from the same publication claimed that Jio would launch two feature phones- one with a Qualcomm 205 Mobile Platform and the other one with a Spreadtrum SoC. And today's report revealed that the higher variant would be priced at Rs. 2,369. However, the publication did not disclose which variant (Qualcomm 205 or Spreadtrum) will carry this pricing. Most likely, the Qualcomm 205 variant will carry a premium price tag because of the recently introduced GST regime, which also imposes ten percent import tax.
In the previous report, it was revealed that the manufacturing cost of the Qualcomm 205 variant was around $28 (approx. Rs. 1,800), while the Spreadtrum processor option's production cost came around $27 (approx. Rs. 1,730). The report further says "The high MRP of Rs 2,369 could be attributed to the recent implementation of GST, but it’s likely that the phone will retail for a lower price. "
Coming to the rumoured specifications of the Jio 4G Feature Phone, it will flaunt a 2.4-inch colour screen (same as the Nokia 3310). The device will have 512MB of RAM and 4GB of internal storage, along with a microSD card slot for storage expansion. Also, the phone will get a 2MP camera on the back, paired with a VGA front-facing shooter.
There will be connectivity options such as 4G LTE, VoLTE, Bluetooth, and NFC (Surprise). A 2000mAh battery will fuel the entire package. At the moment, the launch date of the phone is unknown, but the report says the company is looking to announce it next month.
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