HMD's $166 Vibe 2 Pro Brings Indian AI, But Skimps on Long-Term Updates

HMD's newest budget phone arrives in India this October with a straightforward pitch: solid hardware, an AI assistant that speaks your language, and a price tag of $166. The Vibe 2 Pro 5G lands during Flipkart's Big Billion Days sale, when millions of Indians upgrade their phones at once, competing directly against Samsung and other brands throwing discounts at the same market segment.

The phone itself is competent without being flashy. It has a 6.78-inch FHD+ LCD screen with 120Hz refresh, a MediaTek Dimensity 6300 processor (a 2024-era budget 5G chip found in dozens of phones under $200), and 6GB or 8GB of RAM. The 64MP Sony IMX682 camera sensor has been appearing in budget phones since around 2020 and takes sharp daylight photos, though low-light performance depends heavily on software processing—not HMD's strongest area. Where HMD distinguishes itself is in the details most reviewers skip: stereo speakers that make videos and calls fuller, a 3.5mm headphone jack (increasingly rare even on cheap phones), 33W wired charging (up from 18W on the cheaper Vibe 2 5G released in May), and that sharper FHD+ display instead of the HD+ panels some competitors use. For someone primarily using YouTube, WhatsApp, and calls, these practical touches matter more day-to-day than raw processing power.

The marquee feature is Indus, an AI assistant built by Bengaluru startup Sarvam AI. It can answer questions, draft messages, and help with task planning in more than 22 Indian languages—Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, Marathi, Kannada, and others. For millions of people more comfortable in their regional language than English, this is a genuine advantage; most global AI chatbots still perform best in English. Sarvam AI is one of India's most visible "sovereign AI" companies, meaning it builds AI models within India, trained on Indian languages and local needs. The Indus app launched publicly in February on Android, iOS, and the web, running on Sarvam's 105-billion-parameter model. HMD had already partnered with Sarvam to bring AI to its feature phones.

But here's the catch most launch coverage misses: Indus is a free app you can download on almost any phone. HMD builds it into the Vibe 2 Pro, which saves a step and may make it easier to discover, but it isn't exclusive to this device. If you're buying this phone solely for Indus, you can get the same assistant on a phone you already own. That said, the integration has real value for first-time smartphone users. Having a local-language AI ready on day one lowers the barrier to trying it at all—convenience matters more than exclusivity for someone who'd never think to search an app store for "AI assistant in Kannada."

The critical weakness emerges in the update commitment. HMD promises two years of security updates and no Android version upgrades. The phone launches on Android 16 and will stay there. Security updates patch vulnerabilities that hackers exploit to access your phone, banking apps, and UPI payments. Once updates stop, your phone keeps working, but it becomes less secure every month. Apps also gradually stop supporting older Android versions. Compare this to Samsung's Galaxy F70e 5G, which launched in February with the identical Dimensity 6300 chip, the same 6,000mAh battery, and a 6GB/128GB model at $156—the exact launch price of HMD's entry model. Samsung commits to six years of OS and security updates. HMD wins on screen sharpness, charging speed, and camera megapixels. Samsung wins on the one metric that determines how long your phone remains useful. For budget buyers who typically keep phones for three or more years, Samsung's longer support window is the safer choice.

The Vibe 2 Pro 5G makes sense if you upgrade every two years, want a sharper screen and headphone jack at this price, or prefer an AI assistant ready in your own language from day one. It's worth reconsidering if you plan to keep your phone for four years or longer, care about gaming, or do frequent banking and want long-term security patches. The phone is pleasant and well-rounded, and putting an Indian-language AI front and center is a smart idea. But the AI isn't exclusive, and the short update promise undercuts its value against Samsung. If HMD had matched even four years of security updates, this would be an easy recommendation at $156. During Big Billion Days, watch for bank discounts; if the price drops well below Samsung's offer, the trade-off starts to look more reasonable.