UTL Neolync lands JioPhone Next Production for First Lot; Jio to Order 5 Mn Units

According to reports, Reliance Industries Limited has placed an initial production order for the JioPhone Next. Notably, the company has awarded the order to UTL Neolyncs.

Reliance Industries to Order 5 Million Units of JioPhone Next

Sources report that RIL has ordered around 5 million units of the new smartphone. Out of which, the initial part has gone to UTL Neolyncs. Also, Reliance will try to bring the entire order to market in the next six months, they said. However, due to the ongoing chip shortages, that plan could hit a stumbling block. Notably, Reliance said at their AGM that the phone will hit the shelves on September 10.

UTL Neolyncs, a joint venture between Bengaluru-based UTL Group and Neolync Solutions, has been approved to receive SOPs under the PLI scheme for handsets. 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.

The entry-level smartphone, powered by the Snapdragon 215 chipset, is expected to price at about Rs 3,500. The phone will contain a bunch of highly-optimized apps from Jio and Google. However, RIL has not officially revealed the pricing yet.

A Rs 3,500 Smartphone for Digital Revolution

Reliance Jio reported about 441 million subscribers in June. The telco has made no secret of its desire to break the 500-million mark. For that, it has long targeted some 250-odd million 2G feature phone users in the country. The JioPhone series was a step in the same direction. However, the JioPhone Next, which is a smartphone, will bring much more incentive for customers to actually shift.

Tarun Pathak, associate director at Counterpoint Research, said that to counter the chipset shortage, Jio will aim to freeze suppliers for the long term to achieve economies of scale. Pathak said that the JioPhone Next is "here to stay" and to drive feature phone to smartphone migration. Pathak also mentioned that other shortages, such as displays and PMICs, will also pose a challenge.

He added that JioPhone Next also represents an opportunity for Jio to monetize its digital assets. For starters, the device will launch exclusively on JioMart and Reliance Digital stores.

RIL is, however, expected to leverage the traditional offline channel for the new device. “RIL is establishing a general offline system for Jio SIM locked-in devices and is trying to iron out issues ahead of the JioPhone Next launch,” a person aware of the matter said on condition of anonymity.