Reliance Jio may soon launch 4G feature phone at Rs 1500

Jio planning to further push 4G into rural areas. The company plans to launch 4G feature phone at RS 1500. 

Earlier we’ve heard about Jio phones with VoLTE support starting at Rs 999, and an ET report now claims that the telco will soon bring a 4G feature phone at Rs 1500. Spreadtrum Communications, Chinese chipmaker is said to be working on reducing the prices by at least half from the current levels, according to the report.

Despite the heavy smartphone penetration, feature phones continued to dominate the Indian phone market with more than 50 percent share in 2016. Jio’s long-time rumoured move to bring affordable 4G VoLTE feature phones could prove to be beneficial.

According to the report, with the massive shift to 4G and lucrative data plans, these affordable feature phones will be targeted at tier 2 locations and rural areas.

During his India visit, Google's Sundar Pichai had called for the need of Rs 2000 smartphones in India. Similarly, Indian government had also asked local phone makers to build smartphones priced under Rs 2000. The aim is to push Internet-enabled devices to rural areas.