India's massive smartphone market eyeing JioPhone Next over Pixel 6; here's why

Reliance’s first-of-its-kind smartphone ‘JioPhone Next’ with Pragati OS designed collaboratively with Google is expected to appeal India’s massive smartphone market as an affordable, budget-friendly android this Diwali, as compared with Google’s new Pixel 6 series, whose premium prices may have driven it out of consumer’s reach.  Priced at just Rs 6499 or $87, the 4G smartphone has been designed specifically to cater to the Indian market and “unique needs of the Indian consumer”, according to Android India engineering lead Ram Papatla's statement in his new blog post. 

Understanding the demand and supply variations, Google, which partnered with Reliance to build JioPhone Next, revealed to Gadgets 360 that it may not have plans to introduce the new series of Google Pixel phones for Indian consumers given a variety of factors, one being the high cost. The smartphone, with a 120Hz LTPO OLED display and triple rear cameras, was launched earlier last week at a virtual event with the company's proprietary Tensor SoC and is expected to kick Android 12 out of the box. 

“The Indian premium smartphone segment is very hyper-competitive with established as well as new market entrants in the fray. For Google, bringing the Pixel 6 to India would not make commercial sense,” Prabhu Ram, Head- Industry Intelligence Group (IIG), CyberMedia Research (CMR) reportedly stressed in an emailed statement to Gadgets 360.

He agreed that while Google enjoys great mindshare amongst tech enthusiasts with Pixel phones, “it is tough to get market acceptance owing to its Uber premium pricing.” The smartphone, although, has taken over the US, UK, Canada, Ireland, Australia, Germany, France, Japan, and Taiwan markets. 

Smartphone inspired by belief that 'everyone in India should benefit from internet', says Google CEO

As Reliance announced the JioPhone Next jointly designed by Jio & Google on October 29, Google stated that the consumers can make a payment of just Rs 1999 and choose a payment plan through Jio stores and have the experience of an optimized version of Android. “Among the many rich features of JioPhone Next, the one that has impressed me the most — and one that will empower common Indians the most and take their digital journeys to the next level — is its contribution to India’s linguistic integration. India’s unique strength is our linguistic diversity", said Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries that operate Jio, according to The verge.

The budget smartphone, that was first announced for the Indian market in 2020, is “inspired by the belief that everyone in India should benefit from the opportunities the internet creates”, Google CEO Sundar Pichai reportedly said. Google invested $4.5 billion to cater to the middle class and middle-lower class society in the world’s second-largest smartphone market.