Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani, on Thursday, during Annual General Meeting, announced that JioPhone Next, a smartphone developed by Reliance Jio in partnership with Google, will be available in the Indian market from September 10 of this year. He claimed that JioPhone Next would be a full-featured smartphone, the most affordable in the Indian market. Some of the phone’s features include a voice assistant, automatic read-aloud of screen text, language translation, and a smart camera with reality filters.

Speaking about the Google-Jio partnership, Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said, “JioPhone Next is powered by an optimised version of Android OS jointly developed by Jio and Google. It is ultra-affordable and packs cutting-edge features.” He added that Google’s partnership with Reliance was to bring affordable access to information for the Indian market. “Next steps in this vision start with a new, affordable, Jio smartphone, created with Google. It is built for India, and it will open up new possibilities for millions of new users who will experience the internet for the first time.”

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Pichai also spoke about both companies partnering on 5G network technology. “A new 5G partnership between Google Cloud and Jio will help more than a billion Indians to connect with faster internet, support businesses in digital transformation, and lay the foundation for next phase of India’s digitization,” he said.