According to two sources, Reliance Jio will launch a $184 (Rs 15,000) budget laptop with an embedded 4G sim card, hoping to replicate the success of its low-cost JioPhone in India’s price-sensitive market.
The Mukesh Ambani-led conglomerate has collaborated with global behemoths Qualcomm and Microsoft on the JioBook, with the former powering its computing chips based on Arm Ltd technology and the latter providing support for some apps.
Jio, India’s largest telecom carrier with over 420 million customers, did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
Available to enterprise customers
According to sources, the laptop will be available to enterprise customers such as schools and government institutes starting this month, with a consumer launch expected within the next three months. A 5G-enabled version, like the JioPhone, will follow.
“This will be as big as JioPhone,” one of the sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
According to Counterpoint, the device has been India’s top-selling sub-$100 smartphone since its launch late last year, accounting for a fifth of the market over the last
three quarters.
The JioBook will be manufactured locally by contract manufacturer Flex, with Jio aiming to sell “hundreds of thousands” of units by March, according to one of the sources.
According to IDC, overall PC shipments in India totaled 14.8 million units last year, led by HP, Dell, and Lenovo.
According to Counterpoint, the device has been India’s top-selling sub-$100 smartphone since its launch late 2021, accounting for a fifth of the market over the last three quarters.
To be manufacture locally
The JioBook will be manufactured locally by contract manufacturer Flex, with Jio aiming to sell “hundreds of thousands” of units by March, according to one of the sources.
According to IDC, overall PC shipments in India totaled 14.8 million units last year, led by HP, Dell, and Lenovo.
According to Counterpoint analyst Tarun Pathak, the launch of the JioBook will increase the total addressable laptop market segment by at least 15%.
The laptop will run Jio’s JioOS operating system, and apps will be available for download from the JioStore. Jio is also promoting the laptop as an alternative to tablets for corporate employees who work outside the office.
Jio, which raised approximately $22 billion in 2020 from global investors including KKR & Co Inc and Silver Lake, is credited with disrupting the world’s second largest mobile market when it launched cheap 4G data plans and free voice services in 2016, and later the 4G smartphone for $81.
