KaiOS Partners With Unigroup Spreadtrum & RDA To Integrate With Newest Chipsets And Offer Advanced Functionality On Lite Phones

As a core subsidiary of Tsinghua Unigroup, Unigroup Spreadtrum & RDA, a world’s   leading fabless semiconductor company with advanced technology in mobile communications and IoT, and KaiOS Technologies, maker of the emerging operating system KaiOS, today announced that KaiOS is now supported on high-performance LTE chipset platform Spreadtrum’s SC9820A which is now running on JioPhone. 

Further, the latest mobile operating system, KaiOS 2.5, will also be supported on Spreadtrum’s highly-competitive SC9820E and 3G device solution SC7731E chipsets later this quarter. With this partnership, users will have access to a broader selection of lite phones that support advanced mobile functionality.

Spreadtrum’s highly-integrated and power-efficient chipset platforms power a diverse range  of  mobile devices from fully equipped smartphones to feature phones and tablets. Emerging markets see a particular benefit from Spreadtrum’s technology as these new advanced chipsets give a competitive advantage in terms of price and efficiency  which  enables affordable lite phones to support  mainstream apps, communication and content.

“Spreadtrum  is  committed  to  being  on  the  forefront  of  mobile  innovation,  from  the  most  sophisticated smartphone to the widely accessible feature phone,” said Mr. Adam Zeng, Global Executive Vice President of Unigroup and CEO of Unigroup Spreadtrum & RDA, “By partnering with KaiOS Technologies, we’re able to unite hardware and software in a way that connects users around the world without compromising quality.This  collaboration  will  further  strengthen  Spreadtrum’s business 

 deployment  in  global  feature  phone market.”

KaiOS powers a  new category of affordable,  lite  phones and other connected  devices that  use  limited memory while  still offering  a  rich  user  experience.  KaiOS  is  one  of  only a  handful of mobile  operating systems capable of supporting popular third-party apps, and more significantly, the only OS to do so on feature phones. This  includes social media, instant messaging, games, streaming entertainment, navigation, and voice assistants. It uses only a fraction of the memory but offers a wide variety of features. KaiOS 2.5 will be running on Spreadtrum’s newest chipsets requiring only 256MB/512MB RAM.

“We’re dedicated to providing users  with  affordable mobile devices that offer rich functionality and we couldn’t do that without  partners  like  Spreadtrum,” saidMr.Sebastien Codeville, CEO of KaiOS Technologies.“Thanks to the backbone of our partner’s high-performance chipsets, KaiOS is bringing a whole new generation of affordable devices to life. Going forward we’ll intensify our efforts with Spreadtrum and strengthen our product portfolio in the 3G and 4G market.”

Analysis by Counterpoint Research in 2017 indicates that more than 1.3 billion feature phones are currently in use, mostly in markets like Asia and Africa, with Central Eastern Europe usage also on the rise. Research also indicates these markets are facing marked technological and economic polarization. Mobile operating   systems  like KaiOS, coupled with affordable, powerful hardware  manufactured by companies like  Spreadtrum, are taking meaningful steps toward  decreasing the technological  gap.

New Delhi, February 27, 2018