The JioBook could be Reliance Jio’s first budget Android laptop
- Reliance Jio will launch its own inexpensive laptop based on Android.
- The laptop named JioBook may have a Qualcomm chipset.
Reliance Jio is a major player in India’s low-cost smartphone space, but the ambitious company is aiming for a new category of technology. According to a new report by XDAThe company is developing an affordable laptop, tentatively referred to as the JioBook.
The laptop is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 665 chipset, which should also enable 4G LTE connectivity via the Snapdragon X12 modem. The chip also provides support for the Adreno 610 GPU and Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0. Early JioBook prototypes, which were co-developed by Chinese company Bluebank, reportedly had up to 4 GB of LPDDR4X RAM with 64 GB of eMMC 5.1 storage.
Android on a budget laptop
In terms of software, Jio is tuned to bypass Chrome OS. Instead, it appears that an Android fork called the Jio OS is being developed. XDA notes that the device firmware they examined did not include Google Apps – it is unclear whether Google Mobile Services will be included in the final product. However, Jio has also added a number of its own and Microsoft apps and services to the computer.
As for the release date and price, we’re still in the dark. Based on production plans, XDA believes the JioBook could debut in May 2021. When the machine lands, expect it to come at an affordable price, like Jio’s other products.
Poll is loadingReliance Jio has big ambitions of 500 million subscribers in the next two years, and an affordable LTE laptop will help bring more internet users to its network. And while it doesn’t suit more premium Windows 10 and Chrome OS laptop players, it will likely give these OEMs something to think about if it succeeds.
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