After launching the JioPhone Next last year, Indian telecom giant Jio is now gearing up to launch an affordable 5G phone. The upcoming device, which will reportedly be called JioPhone 5G, is currently in the works and will hit the market sometime later this year. Given that Jio's affordable phones sell like hotcakes, the rumored JioPhone 5G could singlehandedly drive 5G adoption in India.

Although Jio hasn't revealed any official info about the JioPhone 5G yet, Android Central has managed to procure some details about its hardware specifications and software. According to the publication, the JioPhone 5G will pack Qualcomm's Snapdragon 480 chipset, which should offer a significant performance improvement over the Snapdragon 215 found in the JioPhone Next. The device will also feature a larger 6.5-inch display, however, it will still be an HD+ (1600 x 720) panel.

Jio will reportedly pair the Snapdragon 480 in the JioPhone 5G with 4G RAM, 32GB of onboard storage, and a microSD card slot for further expansion. As far as 5G connectivity is concerned, the JioPhone 5G will offer support for N3, N5, N28, N40, and N78 bands. This leads us to believe that Jio's 5G service, which will likely launch alongside the upcoming phone, should be available for all the other 5G devices that support these bands.

Android Central further reveals that the JioPhone 5G will pack a 5,000mAh battery with 18W fast charging support, a USB Type-C port, a 13MP primary camera, and an 8MP selfie shooter. Talking about the design, the publication notes that the JioPhone 5G will sport a much more modern design when compared to older devices from the company. It will feature thin bezels at the top and bottom, a hole-punch cutout for the selfie camera, and rounded edges.

In terms of software, the JioPhone 5G will run Android 11 (Go edition) out of the box with a couple of tweaks, including an always-on Google Assistant, text-to-speech support, instant translate via Google Lens and Google Translate, and integration with various Indic languages. It will also come with Jio's suite of apps pre-installed.

It's worth mentioning that Jio hasn't prototyped the device yet, so it may not feature these exact specifications by the time it hits the market. On top of that, Jio is reportedly planning to launch multiple SKUs under the JioPhone 5G moniker, which will likely offer different screen sizes and specs.

At the moment, we don't have pricing and availability details for the device. We expect Jio to share more information about the JioPhone 5G in the coming months.