Reliance Jio's rumoured 4G feature phone is likely to be sourced from Chinese contract manufacturers. According to Financial Express, Reliance Jio is keen to introduce 4G feature phones priced under Rs 1,500 in India, and is talks with Chinese contract manufacturers like Techchain, FortuneShip and Uniscope. The report notes that these talks are in a very nascent stage and the company is looking for engineering samples from these manufacturers. Reliance Jio is reportedly planning to place order only after these samples gets tested and verified for commercial use. The company has not yet commented on these developments.
Reliance Jio, which made its commercial debut as a telecom operator in September last year, has currently over 72 million paid subscribers. During its recent financial disclosure, the company had said it brought in more than 100 million customers since its debut. Reliance Jio has been conceived as a 4G only service since its launch. While other operators like Vodafone-Idea and Bharti Airtel have far more subscribers, Jio's 4G only service limits it from working on feature phones.
With 4G feature phone, Reliance Jio hopes to increase the adoption of 4G services and also reach more consumers than otherwise possible. Recently, Gartner reported that while smartphone shipments will grow in 2017, the year will also see continued adoption of feature phones. the report notes that such phones are still widely used in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, and the resurrection of Nokia's 3310 will help drive the sales of feature phones.
With its 4G feature phone, Reliance Jio is primarily planning to increase the use of Jio apps. Earlier, a leaked picture showed Jio's purported 4G feature phone with shortcuts to Jio services. Reliance already sells smartphones under its LYF-brand with the cheapest device priced at Rs 2,999.