5G is the big hype this year and we already have a bunch of 5G-supported handsets in the market today. Things are about to heat up in the coming months with all major phone makers expected to release their 5G flagship as well as mid-range smartphones by early 2020. And OPPO and Vivo could join the 5G race even sooner by accelerating the development of their models.
According to a new Digitimes report, OPPO and Vivo will reportedly release their 5G smartphones by the end of 2019 or around early 2020, which is a good 2-3 months ahead of schedule. Preponing their release would give both the companies a chance to take on competitors like Realme and Honor, who are expected to announce their respective 5G phones by the end of this year. In fact, Realme just announced that it will be the first brand to release a phone featuring Qualcomm’s integrated 5G chipset.
Interestingly, MediaTek is also said to start shipping its 5G SoC in Q4 2019. While OPPO and Vivo may not use this MediaTek 5G chip, Vivo has at least one smartphone that will launch later this year with Samsung’s new 5G Exynos 980 SoC.
As of today, Vivo has two 5G models in China, the iQOO Pro 5G and NEX 3, while Xiaomi has just one new model, the Mi 9 Pro 5G, which is also the cheapest 5G phone in China right now. Huawei has one model, the expensive but dated Mate 20 X 5G. Notably, OPPO doesn’t have any 5G models in the Chinese market yet.
But things are expected to change very quickly in the coming months.
