At first, 5G equipment was only focused on the most advanced models of the manufacturers, such as Oppo's Find X2/X2 Pro, Huawei's P40/P40 Pro, Huawei's 8 Pro, and Samsung's Galaxy Note20 Ultra. These "super products" cost between 20 and 30 million VND. The most expensive is the Galaxy Z Fold2 - Samsung's 5G foldable smartphone with a price of up to 50 million VND.
By September, 5G Smartphone models priced under 20 million VND had begun to appear, opening a new race for mid-range 5G smartphones. The companies are constantly competing with each other, from OnePlus Nord 5G (priced at about 13.99 million VND), Poco F2 Pro (priced at about 12.49 million VND) to Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro (priced at about 11.9 million VND).
Even the Xiaomi Mi 11 launched on December 28, equipped with the most advanced processor Snapdragon 888, is only priced from 14 million for the 8GB/128GB version to 15.9 million for the Mi 11 Pro version.
Contributing to the price reduction of 5G Smartphones is also from the chip manufacturer. If before, high-end smartphones had 5G because at that time only high-end chip lines such as Snapdragon 865, Exynos 990 or Kirin 990 would support new network connection.
Currently, 5G has gradually appeared on cheaper chip lines such as Snapdragon 765, Snapdragon 690, ... leading to the appearance of mid-range or mid-range smartphones that support 5G. In addition, Apple launched the iPhone 12 with the A14 Bionic chip with 5G connection, making the market even more competitive.
In September, Qualcomm said it would continue to support 5G commercialization on a large scale by bringing 5G connectivity to the Snapdragon chip "first 4" - a chip line used for affordable smartphones. With this move, it is predicted that 5G smartphones using cheap chips will continue to be on the shelves in the first quarter of 2021.
In addition, Samsung also expands 5G connectivity in some models such as Exynos 980, Exynos 880, ... This helps the 5G smartphone market to be more diverse, belong to more segments and reach more diverse customers.
In Vietnam, the 5G commercialization testing phase is being conducted at all 3 networks Vinaphone, Viettel and MobiFone. It is expected that the new mobile network will be officially traded in 2021.
