Airtel, Karbonn together launch 2 smartphones at feature phone price

Bharti Airtel, in partnership with Karbonn Mobiles, on Thursday announced the launch of two new Android-enabled 4G smartphones at the price of a feature phone.

A company statement said the 'A1 Indian' 4G smartphone will be available at an effective price of Rs 1,799 (compared to MRP of Rs 4,390) and the 'A41 Power' comes at an effective price of Rs 1,849 (compared to MRP of Rs 4,290).

Both devices come with a full touch 4-inch screen, 1 GB RAM, Dual SIM Slots, and Dual Camera along with a host of features. The 4G smartphones, which are Google-certified, run on the latest Android 7.0 Nougat OS and offer full access to all apps on Google Play Store, including YouTube, Facebook and WhatsApp.

"We saw very strong demand for our first offer under the 'Mera Pehla Smartphone' initiative, which validates the broad appeal of this innovative proposition. We are also delighted to have Amazon on board as a partner in this exciting journey and look forward to working closely with them. We believe these partnerships will help us make a significant contribution towards transforming India into a smartphone nation," said Raj Pudipeddi, Director - Consumer Business & CMO, Bharti Airtel.

For the 'A1 Indian' 4G smartphone, the customer needs to make a down payment of Rs 3,299 and for the 'A41 Power' 4G smartphone the down payment is Rs 3,349. Customers need to make 36 continuous monthly recharges of Rs 169 pack from Airtel. The customer will get a cash refund of Rs 500 after 18 months and another Rs 1,000 after 36 months, taking the total cash benefit to Rs 1,500.

In case the customer does not wish to opt for the Rs 169 bundled plan, she/he has the flexibility of doing recharges of any denomination and validity as per individual requirements, the statement said.

"However, to claim the cash refund benefit, recharges worth Rs 3,000 must be done within the first 18 months (to claim the first refund installment of Rs 500) and another Rs 3,000 over the next 18 months (to claim the second refund installment of Rs 1,000)," it added.

--IANS

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