JioPhone Next Delayed; "Wider Availability Around Diwali", Jio Says

RIL, just before the much-anticipated launch of the JioPhone Next, has announced that the phone has been delayed, owing to chip and component shortages. JioPhone Next delayed means that the phone will now come out around Diwali, per Jio and Google.

JioPhone Next Delayed: When to Expect the Phone now?

"Jio and Google announced today that they have made considerable progress towards launching the much-awaited JioPhone Next, the made-for-India smartphone being jointly designed by the companies", the companies said.

Mukesh Ambani had announced the phone on 24th June at the Reliance AGM 2021. At the time, he had announced that the phone will go live for pre-booking on 10th September.

However, before the actual announcement in June, the companies had been facing headwinds. Global chip shortage had already been a major issue since April, because of the second wave of the pandemic; and now the same has forced Jio to delay the JioPhone Next. Reports surfaced in June that the companies were facing issues in acquiring chips, displays, assembly equipment and so on.

Citing this, the companies said that they "are actively working to make it available more widely in time for the Diwali festive season". The companies have also been testing the phone "with a limited set of users for further refinement".

They added, "this additional time will also help mitigate the current industry-wide, global semiconductor shortages".

For now, Jio has placed an order of 5 million units with UTL Neolyncs. The government has also approved UTL Neolyncs under the PLI scheme for electronics manufacturing. Furthermore, RIL’s wholly owned unit, Reliance Strategic Business Ventures Ltd, invested Rs 20 crore in Neolync Solutions earlier this month as well. Reliance has also tested the phone at Wingtech Mobiles, Dixon, UTL Neolync and Flextronics.

Now, as the companies have said, the phone will hit Reliance's digital storefronts during the October-November festive season. Most likely, this will specifically happen during the time between Dussehra on 15th October and Diwali on 4th November.