Reliance To Spend ?18,750 Crore To Price 'JioPhone Next' Below ?4,000

Reliance Industries may be compelled to spend at least ?3,750 crore extra on subsidies if the company intends to roll out its JioPhone Next 4G-ready smartphone at ?4,000.

With a spending of ?3,750 crore on subsidies, RIL will shell out 25 per cent extra than previously estimated. The culprit for this rise is suspected to be the global shortage of semiconducters and other smartphone components in the face of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

An unnamed analyst told Economic Times that if Jio sticks to pricing the JioPhone Next at ?4,000 then with a projected goal of 75 million units the company would incur subsidy worth ?18,750 crore in total.

JioPhone Next

What's causing this surge?

Over the last year, almost a 20 per cent increase in the prices of memory and 4G chipset costs along with production issues has dented the budget phone industry.

IIFL Securities, a financial services company announced in June that RIL might be required to subsidise consumers to the tune of ?15,000 crore with subsidy of ?2,000 per handset.

Also read: Reliance Jio Phone Next Delayed Due To Global Chip Shortage

Now, the estimates have jumped above ?18,000 crore.

JioPhone Next

The JioPhone Next is being developed in partnership with Google. Earlier, it was supposed to launch in the autumn months but the semiconducter shortage has caused delays to the company's release plans.

Also read: Reliance JioPhone Next Specs Leaked: All We Know So Far

Even then, we do not know the official price point of JioPhone Next, but the company's goal is to essentially eradicate 300 million strong 2G usage in India and to expand reach of high speed 4G to rural areas as well, targeting the costumers of Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, Jio's rival companies.

Are you pumped for Reliance Jio's ambitious plans to end 2G dependency in India with its budget 4G-ready smartphone device? Let us know in the comments below. For all things science and technology, keep reading Indiatimes.com.