Reliance Industries Ltd's telecom unit is looking to outsource the manufacturing of over 100 million low-cost smartphones that will be built on Google's Android platform, India's Business Standard newspaper reported, citing sources.
Commuters are reflected on an advertisement of Reliance Industries' Jio telecoms unit, at a bus stop in Mumbai, India, February 21, 2017. REUTERS/Shailesh Andrade/FilesBENGALURU: Reliance Industries Ltd's telecom unit is looking to outsource the manufacturing of over 100 million low-cost smartphones that will be built on Google's Android platform, India's Business Standard newspaper reported, citing sources.
The phones, which will be bundled with data packs, could be launched in December 2020 or early next year, the newspaper reported on Wednesday. Reliance, India's most highly-valued company, in July said Alphabet Inc's Google will invest US$4.5 billion in its digital unit. Billionaire Mukesh Ambani, who controls Reliance, in July said that Google would build an Android operating system to power a low-cost"4G or even 5G" smartphone that Reliance would design.
Reliance has sold nearly 33per cent of its digital arm, Jio Platforms, to raise 1.52 trillion rupees and has won the backing of global financial and tech investors including, Facebook Inc, Intel and Qualcomm.