Finnish phone-maker HMD bundles Indian AI chatbot onto new smartphone in push to reach local market

HMD Global, the Finnish smartphone manufacturer, has officially introduced its latest device, the Vibe 2 5G, which comes with the Indian AI chatbot Indus pre-installed. This collaboration with Sarvam, an emerging AI firm, was first unveiled during the India AI summit in New Delhi earlier this year. The Indus chatbot is powered by Sarvam's sophisticated AI model, which boasts an impressive scale of 105 billion parameters, tailored to enhance user interaction. Notably, the app supports 22 Indic languages and offers the capability for mid-sentence code-switching, allowing users to seamlessly switch between languages like Hindi and English for improved contextual understanding. Currently, the Indus app is available for online use only, lacking offline functionality and integrated voice activation on the device. According to Ravi Kunwar, CEO of HMD for India and APAC, the primary objective of this partnership is to introduce the Indus app to consumers. "By pre-loading the app, we aim to enhance accessibility for users," he stated in a recent interview. The Vibe 2 5G is positioned as a mid-range Android phone, featuring a robust 6,000mAh battery and priced at ₹10,999 (approximately $114). Kunwar also indicated that future devices in the Vibe series will include the chatbot, with plans for a feature phone equipped with Sarvam's AI to be launched soon. Despite HMD's current 4% share in India's feature phone market, the company struggles to gain traction in the smartphone sector, not ranking among the top 15 vendors according to IDC. The early adoption of the Indus app reflects this challenge, with just over 293,000 downloads reported across platforms nearly three months post-launch, starkly contrasting with the 43.9 million downloads of ChatGPT in the same timeframe. However, the strategy of bundling a local AI assistant with affordable smartphones, particularly feature phones, may prove pivotal in a linguistically diverse market like India, where English-based AI tools have limited reach. This partnership is being monitored closely by investors and operators interested in the evolution of AI adoption in emerging markets. Sarvam, recognized as one of India's leading AI startups, is also pursuing significant enterprise partnerships, primarily in voice technologies, and is reportedly aiming for a $300 million funding round at a valuation of $1.5 billion.