Reliance Jio delays the JioPhone Next launch at the last minute

Indian telecom giant Reliance Jio unveiled the JioPhone Next — an ultra-affordable Android phone developed in collaboration with Google — at its 44th Annual General Meeting in June. At the time, the company revealed a few details about the device and said that it would go on sale today, i.e., September 10th. But Reliance Jio has now delayed the sale, citing two reasons — the global semiconductor shortage and “advanced testing.”

In a joint statement released yesterday (via LiveMint), Jio and Google said, “Both companies have begun testing JioPhone Next with a limited set of users for further refinement and are actively working to make it available more widely in time for the Diwali festive season. This additional time will also help mitigate the current industry-wide, global semiconductor shortages.” The Indian festival of Diwali is on November 4th this year, so we expect Reliance Jio to share more details by late October.

For the unaware, the JioPhone Next is an ultra-affordable Android smartphone that will run an optimized version of Android. The device will give first-time smartphone owners access to features like a voice assistance, text-to-speech capabilities, language translation, a smart camera with AR filters, and more. While Reliance Jio is yet to share details about its hardware, the company has revealed that it will offer 4G connectivity.

It’s worth noting that, unlike older Jio phones, Reliance Jio plans to bring the JioPhone Next to international markets. However, given the current delay, we don’t think the phone will make its way to other regions before the end of this year.

Reliance Jio is yet to reveal the JioPhone Next’s price. We expect the company to make an announcement with more details in the days leading up to the first sale later this year. We’ll make sure to let you know as soon as we have more information about the device.

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