Lava Blaze 5G, low-cost 5G smartphone priced at around Rs 10,000 to launch by October end

(Image Courtesy: Lava)

Lava, today, announced the Lava Blaze 5G, a low-cost 5G smartphone for the Indian market, according to a report by Financial Express.

Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Railways, Communications and Electronics & IT unveiled the Lava Blaze 5G at the ongoing India Mobile Congress 2022.

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Blaze 5G will be India’s first 5G smartphone in the 10k price range.

Pre-bookings for the Lava Blaze 5G will start at around Diwali this year. Exact pricing should be revealed closer to launch, according to the report.

Lava International Limited president and business head Sunil Raina said the “product aligns with the larger vision of providing the next generation 5G technology to Indians at an affordable price point,” adding that “with the launch of this smartphone we are making the power of 5G technology accessible to all”.

On October 1, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the 5G data services in the country, ushering in an era of ultra high-speed internet on mobile phones.

The Prime Minister launched the 5G services in select cities at the IMC 2022 conference. The services will progressively cover the entire country over the next couple of years.

Lava Blaze 5G specs

The smartphone will come with a 6.5-inch 720p IPS display with a fast 90Hz refresh rate and Widevine L1 support. Under the hood, it will have the MediaTek Dimensity 700 processor paired with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.

It will have a triple rear camera setup helmed by a 50MP main sensor. On the front, it will have an 8MP selfie shooter.

Miscellaneous specs include a 5,000mAh battery and Android 12 software. The phone will come with a glass back and a side-mounted fingerprint reader for biometrics.

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According to Statista, in 2020, the penetration rate of smartphone in India reached 54 percent and was estimated to reach 96 percent in 2040, more than double from financial year 2016 although only around 23 percent of the total population were using smartphone.

In 2020, the volume of smartphone shipments across India was around 149.7 million.

According to a Deloitte study, India will have 1 billion smartphone users by 2026 with rural areas driving the sale of internet-enabled phones. India had 1.2 billion mobile subscribers in 2021, of which about 750 million are smartphone users.