Lava Mobiles starts manufacturing phones for Nokia, Motorola and more

If recent reports are to be believed, Lava mobiles, made in India, are making devices for other brands. According to the Economic Times, Lava is in advanced talks with one of India’s leading telecommunications operators to manufacture co-branded smartphones .

These will be subsidized by the operator, “thus greatly reducing the cost of the 4G device”. Lava Mobiles are said to have already started manufacturing Nokia-branded smartphones and are also in talks with Motorola.

An in-the-know person told ET that Lava Mobiles is in talks with all three carriers to design and manufacture smartphones.

Reliance Jio got their devices, JioPhone series, made by Flex and they also plan to offer low-cost 4G devices in collaboration with Google. Bharti Airtel is also reportedly in talks with sellers of handsets for low-cost 4G smartphones under the “carrier subsidy model” and said they are exploring device options.

Lava is also considering partnering with companies that can share supply chains. He already makes smartphones for Nokia [HMD Global]. It is looking to combine forces on the supply chain front, the source told ET.

“Lava wants to work with important companies that are not part of the Indian ecosystem so that their supply chain can be combined,” the source added.

Motorola was previously in talks with Dixon Technologies and Lava for a “$1 billion contract to manufacture smartphones in India.”

Lava Mobiles chairman Hari Om Rai said the company is “stepping up its manufacturing activities, but could not give specific details on its B2B business contracts due to nondisclosure pacts.”

Lava has also increased its production capacity to 30 million smartphones and 45 million multifunction phones according to reports.

Lava will be able to meet the PLI target for this year, the source said without specifying exactly what the target was.

Lava is actively seeking out Western companies as part of its push towards contract manufacturing and working with American companies like AT&T and General Electric to make them affordable smartphones.