Conglomerate introduces first four smartphone models bearing Vsmart brand.
VinSmart, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup, announced the launch of four models of smartphones under the brand name Vsmart at a ceremony in Ho Chi Minh City on December 14.
Vsmart products use the VOS operating system developed on the Android platform, follow European standard technology, and are priced from VND2.5 million to VND6.3 million ($108 to $270).
There are four models – Joy 1, Joy 1+, Active 1, and Active 1+. Active 1+ is the most advanced and comes in the three colors of green, black and rose gold, with a metal frame, back glass, and rabbit ear screen and is equipped with a 660 SnapDragon Chip of 6GB RAM, with a selfie camera and dual camera.
Active 1 has the same design as Active 1+, with metal frame and back glass but no rabbit ear screen, and is available in black or white. Joy 1+ is in the low-cost segment and Joy 1 is the cheapest model.
To be mass produced, all passed nearly 2,500 standard tests, including hardware tests, mechanical tests, and software tests, at BQ labs in Spain and at the Vsmart factory. Vsmart also sends its products to test at Qualcomm labs, the world’s best-performing semi-conductor chip maker.
With a desire to give customers absolute trust in its smartphones, which are produced entirely in Vietnam, a long warranty of up to 18 months is offered. There are over 500 warranty agents, with three large customer care centers in Hanoi, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City and one large repair center at its factory.
Vsmart’s distribution channels nationwide number 5,000 stores, with products also delivered to more than 3,000 stores of mobile phone chains worldwide and more than 1,500 stores and online sales channels.
“We are currently establishing six overseas laboratories, including in the US, South Korea, Japan, China, Israel and Singapore, in order to conduct research on new technologies used for smart electronic devices,” said Mr. Tran Minh Trung, CEO of VinSmart. “With an advantage from having our own technology, human resources, and factories, VinSmart is expected to launch ten smartphones in 2019, in the low, medium, and high segments.”
“VinSmart will also bring the most updated technology and latest consumer trends in phones, such as rabbit ears, water droplets, overflowing screen, the latest line of Qualcomm and Mediatek chip processors, AI camera technology, wide angle photography, fingerprint sensors, and so on.
It will focus on developing a Vietnamese UI interface and UX experience and select and integrate essential applications and entertainment services next year.
For international markets, VinSmart will work with local partners to localize the experience as well as select applications and services suitable for each market. It aims to research, develop and deliver its own VOS security operating system based on the Android platform.
Before the launch ceremony, Qualcomm Incorporated and VinSmart entered into a Patent Licensing Agreement on December 14 covering multimode complete terminals. Under the terms of the agreement, Qualcomm has granted VinSmart a royalty-bearing patent license to develop, manufacture, and sell branded multimode complete terminals such as 4G/5G smartphones. Royalties payable by VinSmart are consistent with the terms of Qualcomm’s branded multimode licensing framework disclosed this past year.
Source: Vneconomictimes