RIL AGM 2020: Jio, Google working on a low-cost smartphone with a special India-focused OS

RIL AGM 2020: Jio promises a low-cost smartphone with a custom India-focused OS.

Google and Alphabet CEO, Sundar Pichai (Google)

RIL's chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani at the company's Annual General Meeting (AGM) said that Reliance and Google have partnered to work on an India-focused affordable smartphone.

“We can build an entry-level 4G or 5G smartphone for a fraction of current cost,” Ambani said at the event. Google will be designing the operating system for a low-cost smartphone. 

“Google and Jio Platforms have entered into a commercial agreement to jointly develop an entry-level affordable smartphone with optimizations to the Android operating system and the Play Store. Together we are excited to rethink, from the ground up, how millions of users in India can become owners of smartphones. This effort will unlock new opportunities, further power the vibrant ecosystem of applications and push innovation to drive growth for the new Indian economy,” said Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

Earlier, Google announced it will invest ₹33,737 crore in Jio Platforms for a 7.7% stake. With this, the total investment from financial and strategic investors into Jio Platforms stands at ₹1,52,056 crore.

Apart from a low-cost smartphone, Reliance has also revealed plans to deploy a5G network in India. The company said its 5G stack has been completely developed in-house.