Over the last six months, Reliance has not only witnessed massive demand for Jio SIM cards but their entry into the smartphone ecosystem has also been widely accepted. While garnering 70+ million users for its telecom network, the company also bagged a spot as the top device seller in the country. Thus, it is now investing more capital to embrace this growth and manufacture LYF devices in India.
According to a report in ET, Reliance Industries (RIL) has held talks with its China and Taiwan-based manufacturing partners to bring their production and assembly facilities to India. This also includes Apple’s primary hardware maker and OEM partner for a cohort of consumer electronic companies — Foxconn. Other ODM manufacturers include ZTE, CK Telecom, Wingtech, and Tinno Mobile.
The company has asked them to make LYF-branded products, namely smartphones, smart set-top boxes, home automation and telematic devices in the country.
This isn’t a surprising development for the Indian conglomerate, being spearheaded by Mr. Mukesh Ambani. Sources aware of the situation have stated that the manufacturing partners have signed a contract with the said clause in it. They have to locally manufacture and assemble LYF phones on Indian soil over a period of time. With this move, Reliance is also taking care of incentives and its contribution to the ‘Make in India’ campaign.
Due to its massive scale, Foxconn will most likely be the first manufacturer to start production of 4G voLTE-powered handsets for the LYF brand in India. Though there is currently no specific timeline but it should begin soon enough to further increase adoption of its 4G devices and Jio services. Foxconn will also focus on producing other devices pitched by Reliance in the coming years. Talking about the same, a source familiar with the situation says,
Foxconn has its own set of handsets that they will make for Reliance’s Lyf. Local sourcing will bring down costs of these devices.
Another source, closer to Foxconn’s affairs and aware of the manufacturing side of things, adds that the two behemoths are discussing the production volume of LYF phones. And there is currently no solid figure in hand. The source further adds,
Foxconn can be the number one partner for Jio, as nobody can match the scale that it has.
According to research data from IDC, Reliance LYF smartphones have heavily penetrated the Indian smartphone market since its launch in early 2016. After selling a whopping 7+ million devices in 2016, the company has now bagged the fifth spot in terms of sales. The IDC report, released a couple days ago, further adds,
With the commercial launch of Reliance Jio Service with an attractive introductory offer, the LYF branded smartphones saw a sharp demand with reports of stock outs at some locations. Apart from its entry level Flame series, Water series also contributed to the growth in Q3 2016.
And now, Reliance is looking to debut a 4G voLTE supported feature phone to capture the interest of the mass populace. This feature phone will project similarities to those tiny, dumb and sturdy Nokia phones. They’ll most likely come with added Jio app buttons in tow and cost as low as Rs 999. That’d be a steal and help Reliance further push its network and LYF handsets to more people in the country.
