Micromax, Vodafone to launch new 4G phone at Rs 999

Micromax along with Vodafone plans to launch a new smartphone in India, likely to be priced less than Rs 1000. Micromax, which was once believed to give a stiff competition to Samsung, started waning in popularity amidst the increasing number of Chinese vendors.

Now, Micromax and Vodafone are together expected to launch the Bharat 2 Ultra. It will come with data and calling plans from Vodafone. The effective price of the device will be Rs 999. This will cut down the buying price from Rs 2899.  Users have to recharge their phones for at least Rs 150 per month for 36 months. At the end of 18 months, they will receive cashback of Rs 900 and after another 18 months, cashback of Rs 1,000.

The Bharat 2 Ultra sports a 4-inch WVGA display, comes powered by Spreadtrum SC9832 1.3Ghz quad-core processor with 512MB RAM and 4GB storage. It gets a 2MP rear camera with 0.3MP front camera. The device also comes with different camera modes like scene, frame and burst. The handset runs on Android Marshmallow and fuelled by a 1300 mAh battery.

Similarly, Micromax had also launched the Bharat 1, a 4G feature phone. And, teamed up with BSNL to offer unlimited data as well as unlimited voice calls.

Commented Rahul Sharma, Co-founder, Micromax, "The Bharat-Series, has been aimed for acquisition of the first generation smartphone users. This partnership with Vodafone will help bring in the next phase of smartphone adoption by hand-holding consumers to upgrade them from feature phones to smartphones. We believe that greater device affordability and low cost data packs will drive increased smartphone adoption, as there is still a huge gap. At Micromax we want to give superior device experience in an affordable way and Bharat range is a testimony of the same, having already sold more than 2 million handsets."

Speaking about this offer, Avneesh Khosla, Associate Director – Consumer Business, Vodafone India said, "We are delighted to partner with Micromax to democratize the 4G smart phones at a never before price of under Rs 999/-This will help fulfill the aspirations of several million phone users
across the country who desire a smart phone but couldn't afford one. It will also encourage current non users of 4G to upgrade and enjoy a richer user experience with Vodafone SuperNet 4G."

Aimed at the budget conscious first generation smartphone users in the country, Bharat Series has already seen an adoption amongst 2 million users. With better Camera, battery and display options, the series has given impeccable options to first time smartphone users that is first in the category.

There has been a sudden trend of carrier tied mobile phones in India, thanks to Jio. Recently, we saw Bharti Airtel team up with Karbonn to launch a phone with effective price of Rs 1399, with a minimum recharge of of Rs 169 per month for a period of three years.