At its 44th Annual General Meeting (AGM) in June, Indian telecom giant Reliance Jio announced an ultra-affordable 4G smartphone called JioPhone Next. While the phone was supposed to go on sale on September 10th, Jio was forced to postpone the release due to the global chip shortage. At the time, the company said it would release the phone around Diwali. Now ahead of the official release, Jio has revealed the pricing details for the JioPhone Next.

The JioPhone Next will be available at an entry price of ₹1,999, with the rest of the sum to be paid via installments over 18 or 24 months. Alternatively, you can purchase it upfront without financing for ₹6,499. Jio says the phone will be "available from Diwali," meaning it will hit the shelves next week.

Users can register their interest at the nearest Jio Mart Digital store or on Jio's official website. Once the order is confirmed, users can walk into the nearby Jio Mart Digital store to collect the device.

The JioPhone Next is aimed at first smartphone time buyers and offers good enough hardware for its price. The phone is a collaborative effort between Jio and Google. On the software front, the JioPhone Next runs Pragati OS, a version of Android developed specifically for the Indian market. In its official announcement, Google promises that the device will get timely Android security updates and that "the phone's experience will keep getting better with new feature drops and customizations."

The JioPhone Next comes equipped with a 13MP rear camera with support for features like HDR mode, Night mode, and Portrait mode. Google says it has also teamed up with Snap to bake Indian-specific Snapchat filters right into the camera app.

Elsewhere, the JioPhone Next features a 5.5-inch HD+ display, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 215 chipset, 2GB RAM, 16GB storage, a 2,500mAh battery, a microUSB port, and dual SIM 4G support.