Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart launches its first phone – the Billion Capture+

Major Indian online retailer Flipkart, has just released its own range of smartphones through the company’s subsidiary brand, Billion. The country’s biggest homegrown e-commerce store will take on the budget-friendly segment that Xiaomi and Oppo with the company’s first phone, the Billion Capture+

The Billion brand made by Flipkart moves to rejuvenate the “Make in India” campaign. In 2016 alone, Indian consumers bought an estimated 109 million new smartphones In the next year, that number is said to exceed. In making products that are made in India, the manufacturing system will be positively impacted and should improve the smartphone segment in the Indian local market. Outsiders such as Xiaomi and Oppo have already staked their claim in the country, establishing their own factories.

The phone will come in two models – a 32GB model which will be priced at INR 10,999 and a 64GB model that will be priced at INR 12,999. The Capture+ will go on sale on November 15 in the country. The Billion brand already sells a number of products through Flipkart, ranging from mixer grinders, cookware, backpacks, irons and so on. The brand will be expanding their portfolio to other categories in the coming months as well, including the smartphone segment.

While not much about the new smartphone has been revealed just yet, one of the primary features that the phone will support is a dual-camera setup along with a FHD display. Flipkart is also adding unlimited storage on the cloud as an add-on to the phone, just like how Google did with the Pixel 2 with unlimited cloud storage for photos. Flipkart’s website has also indicated that the phone will run on stock Android Nougat out of the box. The phone will also feature a fingerprint sensor on the back. A teaser of the phone was earlier revealed, with the tagline stating “hours of battery within minutes of charging,” hinting that the phone will likely come with fast charging technology.

To also reassure that the product is reliable, Flipkart has announced that over 130 service centres will be present across 125 cities and towns all over India. The phone’s specifications, based on Flipkart’s official landing page for the smartphone, is said to consist of a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 Octa-core chipset and a 5.5-inch display with 2.5D curved glass along with Dragontrail protection. The phone will be among the first to get a guaranteed Android Oreo upgrade, which will make it one of the most sought-after budget offerings when it launches.