Google and India’s telecom company Bharti Airtel have partnered to launch low-cost 4G smartphones powered by Android Go, a trimmed down version of Android 8.1 Oreo, in India. Noida-based Lava International Limited and New Delhi-based Micromax, will make the first set of 4G handsets powered by Android Go. Vani Venkatesh, chief marketing officer of Bharti Airtel noted that the company’s collaboration with Google will bring smartphones within the reach of more people since it will enable feature phone users and unconnected people to get online.
In the meantime, with the advantage of having exclusive insights into the minds of their customers, e-commerce companies Amazon India and Bangalore-based Flipkart have launched their own brands of smartphones. Amazon India’s smartphones ’10.or’ (Tenor), are currently manufactured by two Chinese companies, Huaqin and Longcheer. Amazon is also considering a plan to move the manufacturing to India very soon. Flipkart’s ‘Billion Capture Plus’ smartphone manufactured by Hyderabad, India-based Smartron offers “free unlimited cloud storage on secure India-based servers.”
