Finnish mobile phone manufacturer HMD today launched its first smartphone called Vibe 2 5G, which comes preloaded with Indus, a chatbot from Indian AI company Sarvam. The two companies first announced their partnership at the India AI Summit in New Delhi in February.
The Indus app is based on Sarvam’s locally trained 105 billion parameter model, which measures the scale and sophistication of AI. Launched at AI Summit. The app supports 22 Indian languages and mid-sentence code switching (the ability to fluidly mix languages during a conversation, such as switching between Hindi and English), which helps the assistant better understand the context of your query. Currently, the application does not support offline use and has no integration with devices to invoke the AI assistant through shortcuts.
The partnership is a potential testing ground for both companies to gauge the appetite for India-focused chatbots.
“The first thing we want to do with this partnership is to bring the Indus app to consumers,” Ravi Kunwar, CEO and Vice President, India and APAC, HMD, told TechCrunch. “Once users start using it, we will move into phase two to focus on driving more traction and stickiness. For now, we want to pre-load the app to make it more accessible to users,” he said.
The Vibe 2 5G is a mid-range Android phone that packs a 6,000mAh battery and is priced at ₹10,999 ($114). Kunwar added that devices in the Vibe smartphone series will also feature chatbots, and the company is expected to launch feature phones with Sarvam AI integration in the coming months.
Feature phone integration may ultimately be more important for both companies. HMD recorded a 4% share in the Indian feature phone market in 2025, but its smartphone share was minimal. HMD didn’t even make the top 15, according to analyst firm IDC.
Indus is in its early stages, but the download numbers reflect this. Nearly three months after its launch, the app has been downloaded more than 293,000 times across platforms in India, according to AppFigures. In comparison, ChatGPT has been downloaded 43.9 million times in the country.
It’s a big gap, but HMD trading’s strategy may be more important than the initial numbers. Bundling local AI assistants with affordable hardware, especially feature phones, is one of the more straightforward deployment methods available in a market as large and linguistically diverse as India, where the reach of English-language AI tools is limited. For investors and operators watching how AI adoption takes off in emerging markets, this partnership is worth tracking.
Sarvam is one of the prominent AI startups in India. Besides launching the Indus app, the company has also focused on corporate partnerships, especially for voice-based solutions. The company is on track to become one of the most funded AI startups in the U.S., with a funding round reportedly in the works at $300 million, up from a $1.5 billion valuation.
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