Want a smartphone that doesn’t restrict you from downloading any apps, comes with every feature you could find in an android mobile? Giving Reliance Jio’s zero cost JioPhone a tough fight, India’s largest telecom operator Airtel has partnered with Indian mobile vendor Karbonn Mobiles to launch Airtel’s first 4G VoLTE smartphone.
The Android-based 4G smartphone from Airtel, Karbonn Mobiles partnership will come at an effective price of a feature phone. So, what’s the price? the ‘Karbonn A40 Indian’ the first Airtel 4G smartphone will retail for a price tag of Rs 1399. It will also come with a special bundled Airtel 4G mobile plan. Under this, you will get unlimited voice calls and daily 4G data benefits.
The special Rs 169 Airtel mobile plan will come with unlimited local and STD voice calls to any network across India. You also get 500MB of daily 4G/3G/2G data benefits with the plan. The validity of the mobile plan will be 28 days.
Karbonn A40 Indian – Airtel’s first 4G smartphone
Diving deep into the Karbonn A40 Indian specification, the mobile got a decent build quality. The mobile flaunts a 4-inch WVGA (800 x 480) display. Under the hood, the mobile is powered by a 1.3 GHz quad-core processor coupled with 1GB of RAM. The phone runs on Android 7.0 Nougat OS out of the box, unlike the highly customized OS found in JioPhone. It comes with most of the Airtel’s mobile apps like MyAirtel, Airtel TV, Wynk Music etc. As the phone supports Google Play store you can freely download any apps like Facebook, WhatsApp to your phone. You are never restricted with the content you are using with the phone. The phone also comes with support for 22 Indian regional languages.
For storing your media content the phone has an internal storage capacity of 8GB. You can further expand the storage up to 32GB using microSD card. For photography, you get a 2-megapixel rear camera and a 0.3-megapixel front-facing selfie camera.
Coming to connectivity, the Karbonn A40 Indian supports 4G LTE networks in the LTE B3, B5, B40 bands. You also get support for Airtel VoLTE allowing you to make HD voice and video calls. Other connectivity options include 3G and 2G network support, Wi-Fi 802.11 B/G/N, hotspot support and Bluetooth. Fueling the whole device is a 1400 mAh Li-ion battery that can offer up to 200 hours of standby time and up to 4hours of talk time.
Additionally, the Airtel’s 4G smartphone is not restricted to Airtel network. As the mobile comes with dual SIM option, you can have two different telcos SIM in the same phone.
Airtel 4G smartphone Cashback Offer
Convinced by the phone specification? Still, there is more to the Airtel’s 4G smartphone, Karbonn A40 Indian pricing and cashback offer. To purchase the smartphone, you need to make a down payment of Rs 2899. You also need to do a minimum monthly recharge of 169 continuously for next 36 months.
More like Reliance Jio’s ‘not so popular’ JioPhone early return policy, Airtel will offer a cash refund of Rs 500 after 18 months of usage. There is an another Rs 1000 cash refund after 36 months, taking the total cash benefits to Rs 1500. This calculates to the effective price of Airtel’s 4G smartphone to Rs 1399. The cashback will be credited to your Airtel Payment Bank account.
The best part, you don’t have to return the smartphone to Airtel or Karbonn to get the cash refund. You can just keep using it with Airtel’s special 4G smartphone plan.
The Airtel Cashback Scheme
- Buy Karbonn A40 Indian with a down payment of Rs 2899.
- Recharge for Rs 169 per month (or total worth Rs 3,000 within) for 18 months.
- Get cash refund of Rs 500 on your Airtel Payments Bank.
- Continue to recharge for Rs 169 per month (or total worth Rs 3,000 within) for next 18 months.
- Get additional cash refund of Rs 1000 on your Airtel Payments Bank.
- Cumulatively you are purchasing the smartphone of Rs 1399 + you get unlimited voice call and data benefits.
You are not restricted to use the Airtel’s special Rs 169 monthly plan. You get the flexibility to recharge with any Airtel’s mobile plan, of your choice. However, to claim the first Rs 500 cash refund, a total of Rs 3000 worth recharge need to be done within 18 months of mobile purchase. Also, another Rs 3000 worth recharge needs to be done over the next 18 months for the Rs 1000 cash refund.
Mera Pehla 4G smartphone Initiative
According to the operator, under the Mera Pehla 4G smartphone initiative, it will partner with multiple mobile vendors to create an open ecosystem of affordable 4G smartphones in India.
“the aim of the initiative is to enable every Indian to buy a 4G smartphone and get onto the digital superhighway“.
Where can you purchase the Airtel’s 4G smartphone? all mobiles under the Airtel’s Mera Pehla 4G smartphone initiative will be available across leading mobile stores in India. After sales service and support for the handset will be done by the handset manufacturers itself.