Finnish phone maker HMD today launched its first smartphone, called Vibe 2 5G, which comes preloaded with the Indian artificial intelligence company. The Sarvam chatbot, Indo. Both companies first had announced the partnership during the India AI Summit held in New Delhi in February.
The Indus app is powered by Sarvam’s locally trained 105 billion parameter model, a measure of the scale and sophistication of AI, and launched at the AI summit. The app supports 22 Indic languages and mid-sentence code-switching (the ability to fluently mix languages mid-conversation, such as switching between Hindi and English), which helps the assistant better understand the context of a query. The app does not currently support offline use and does not have any functionality integrated with the device to invoke the AI assistant via a shortcut.
The partnership is a potential testing ground for both companies to gauge the appetite for an India-focused chatbot.
“With this partnership, the first thing we want to do is bring the Indus app to consumers,” Ravi Kunwar, HMD’s managing director and vice president for India and APAC, said in an interview with TechCrunch. “Once they start using it, we will move into phase two to focus on generating more traction and grip. Right now, by preloading the app, we want to be more accessible to users,” he said.
The Vibe 2 5G is a mid-range Android phone with a 6000 mAh battery and a price tag of ₹10,999 ($114). Kunwar added that the Vibe series of smartphones devices will also receive the chatbot, and the company is also expected to launch a feature phone with Sarvam AI integration in the coming months.
That feature phone integration may ultimately prove more meaningful for both companies. HMD had a 4% share of India’s feature phone market in 2025, but its smartphone share was negligible – the company doesn’t even appear in the top 15, according to analyst firm IDC.
While it’s early days for Indus, the download numbers reflect this. Almost three months after its launch, the app was downloaded just over 293,000 times in India across all platforms, according to Appfigures. In comparison, ChatGPT was downloaded 43.9 million times in the country.
It’s a big gap, but the strategy behind the HMD deal may matter more than the first numbers. Combining a regional AI assistant with affordable hardware (particularly feature phones) is one of the most direct distribution options available in a market as large and linguistically diverse as India, where English-language AI tools have limited reach. For investors and traders watching AI adoption take hold in emerging markets, this partnership is worth watching.
Sarvam has been one of India’s leading AI startups. Beyond the launch of the Indus app, the company has focused on business partnerships, especially for voice based solutions. It is on track to become one of the most funded AI startups in the country, with information suggestion A $300 million financing round is in the works at a $1.5 billion valuation.
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