Vivo‘s VP and president of its Chinese operations Liu Hong has revealed that Vivo sales since March this year has increased by more than 10% when compared to the same period last year. The VP in a recent interview equally revealed that with the Coronavirus epidemic under control, more than 80% of its workforce has returned to work and that has had a tremendous effect on its production lines with over 90% increase in output. 

This should be similar to what other Chinese tech companies are experiencing which is cheering news considering that only a couple of weeks back, the industry was staring at a total collapse in production due to the government’s social isolation polity and directive for citizens to stay at home.

EDITOR’S PICK: Xiaomi’s Aqara officially unveils its range of smart home products in the US

However, what should interest you most about Liu’s interview should be the aspect where he spoke about 5G phones. The Vivo exec hinted that the company’s 5G phone production capacity each day will surpass 100,000 units by mid-March which is already upon us. More interesting, he also forecasted that the prices of 5G phones will drop to around 1,500 yuan ($214) by the fourth quarter (4Q 2020) or the end of this year.

Vivo has already released three 5G phones this year- the Vivo Z6, iQOO 3 and Vivo NEX 3S. The VP equally stated that the consumer demand for 5G mobile phones exceeded expectations, and the sales of these products were significantly higher than expected. Although affected by the epidemic, since March, sales of Vivo mobile phones have increased by more than 10% compared with the same period last year. That should be due to 5G phones. Liu Hong also revealed that Vivo is accelerating the switch from 4G to 5G. At present, there is no pressure on 4G inventory in the price segment above 2,000 yuan and that is because more persons prefer to go for 5G models even when it is far more expensive than the 4G version. That is an indication of the rapid change in the market forces.

Vivo was one of the top-selling OEMs in the 5G segment in Q4 2019. The company shipped a reasonable among grabbing 13.7% share of the market. It ranked second with Huawei at the first spot with 20.2% market share. Thus, with an increase in its production capacity and the release of more 5G models within the year, Vivo is looking to maintain its top position. But then, when more 5G phones get released, the consumers stand to gain more as it will bring down the prices of older models enabling us to lay our hands on cheaper 5G phones early.

UP NEXT: OnePlus 8 TPU Case goes on sale on GizTop; confirms design

(source)

The post 5G phone prices to fall to 1500 yuan (~$214) by the end of this year says Vivo VP appeared first on Gizmochina.

Huawei’s Honor brand on Tuesday this week announced the Honor V30 and V30 Pro smartphones in China. The two models came out as the brand’s first 5G smartphones and they bring 5G to the mid-range segment. We bring you hands-on pictures of the Honor V30 Pro with a short review of the design and features.

The Honor V30 Pro is the topmost version and it bears the same design as the V30 so take this as an analysis of the Honor V30’s design as well. Not to leave you in doubt, the two models only differ in a few aspects including their memory configurations. The V30 is available in 6GB RAM and 8GB RAM with just 128GB storage option. While the V30 Pro comes in 8GB of RAM and 128GB and 256GB storage options. The V30 Pro equally has a slightly smaller 4100mAhbattery with 40W wired fast charging support and wireless charging support. Wireless charging is lacking on the V30 even though it packs a slightly larger 4200mAh battery.

In terms of design, the Honor V30 Pro 5G utilises a punch-hole display on its 6.57-inch IPS LCD display with full HD+ resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixel and 20:9 aspect ratio. We had thought Huawei would shift to an LED punch-hole design on this model that disappointingly didn’t happen. The elliptical shaped cutout houses two selfie cameras. The cutout ensures the bezels at the top is trimmed down giving it a 91.46% screen ratio.

The fingerprint sensor of the phone can be found on the right edge embedded in the power button. The Honor V30 features the same dual punch-hole display and also comes with a side-facing fingerprint reader. Both phones offer 91.46 percent screen-to-body ratio.

At the back, the V30 Pro packs a triple camera setup arranged vertically inside a rather wide module. The module equally holds the LED flash. Since the device comes with wireless charging, the V30 Pro uses a glass back panel. There is no rear-mounted fingerprint sensor neither is there a front sensor. Instead, the device packs a side-mounted fingerprint scanner. The scanner is integrated with the power button and is located just below the volume rocker at the right side of the screen.

EDITOR’S PICK: First Samples from the 108MP Mi Mix Alpha is here & we are not impressed!

The antenna band line extends downward a little at the side which may be the reason why the SIM tray is removed from the side. It is now located at the bottom edge of the phone flanking the USB-C port and microphone. The speaker grill is at the other edge of the charging port.

The device supports 27W superfast wireless charging and 7.5W reverse wireless charging.

The Honor V30 Pro has 162.7 × 75.8 x 8.8mm and it weighs 206g. The thickness and weight are slightly lesser than the V30 5G due to the stated variance in the battery sizes.

You can read more about the Honor Vera 30 Pro from our launch article right here. Meanwhile, check out some more pictures from below.

UP NEXT: Vivo V17 may finally debut on December 9 in India

The post Honor V30 Pro Hands On/Unboxing Pictures Review appeared first on Gizmochina.

5G is still in its nascent stages, and still, only a handful of countries across the globe have live 5G networks available. However, most flagship smartphones launched in the second half of the year have a 5G version. For example, even the Huawei Mate 30 Pro comes in two different versions, a 4G one and a 5G one. The main reason why Huawei decided to release two different versions of its flagship is that 5G tech is more expensive.

But things will change in 2020. According to Huawei’s Richard Yu, cheaper 5G phones are coming our way next year.

“5G will definitely hit mid-range and even low price range definitely from next year,” said Richard Yu while speaking to journalists at the Mate 30 series event. “This year (our) premium segmentation is 5G, next year we will go to middle-tier 5G smartphones, and later on, the low tier.”

Editor’s Pick: Huawei VP Bruce Lee explains the Huawei Mate 30 Pro’s circular camera ring

Given that Huawei traditionally sticks with its Kirin chipsets, even for its mid-range smartphones, this is a good hint that we’ll see a 5G enabled mid-range Kirin processor sometime in the next few months. Currently, Kirin 810 and Kirin 710 handle Huawei and Honor’s mid-range and budget segments. So we may see a 5G enabled Kirin 800 series chip next year.

This news comes right after Qualcomm announced its plans to release 5G integrated mid-range Snapdragon 600 and 700 series chipsets. In fact, the upper mid-range 5G chip from Qualcomm could meet us before the end of this year. Notably, Samsung already has the Exynos 980 with an integrated 5G modem targeted at non-flagship smartphones.

So expect a new wave of affordable 5G smartphones in the next few months.

UP NEXT: Huawei recruiting EMUI 10 Internal Beta testers for Mate 20 Pro, Honor 20 and others

(Via)

The post Huawei CEO says affordable 5G phones are coming your way in 2020 appeared first on Gizmochina.