Made-in-Vietnam 5G-enabled smartphone to go to the US in 2021

VinSmart and Qualcomm at the press conference

Qualcomm and VinSmart on October 8 held a press conference to share about their achievements brought about by their cooperation and future plans amidst the commercial launch of 5G in Vietnam within this year.

Le Thi Thu Thuy, vice president of Vingroup, which is the parent company of VinSmart, said that since mid-2020, her company has been designing and assembling four sample smart phone models for a big partner in the US. “We exported the first batch of assembled smart phones to the US in September. We plan to assemble about 1.5-2 million units for the partner this year.”

Thuy elaborated that Qualcomm and VinSmart reached a major milestone with the launch of the VSmart Aris Series, the first 5G-enabled smartphone produced in Vietnam, last month. Running on the 5G modular Snapdragon 765G platform, the VSmart Aris Series is also only the second smartphone introduced to the market to have a sub-screen camera.

Qualcomm and Vinsmart are currently working on a new device: the VSmart Aris 5G V742. “We are working together to make the device compatible with most network operators globally. This will be the first VSmart device that VinSmart plans to launch in the US,” she noted.

According to Thuy, with VinSmart’s recent announcement about expanding its international footprint, including the launch of VSmart in the US this year, Qualcomm remains a steadfast partner of the company.

Thieu Phuong Nam, country manager of Qualcomm Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia addressing the event

“VinSmart’s first 5G-enabled smartphone produced in Vietnam is evidence of Vingroup's capacity to research and develop 5G terminal devices, making it ready for the transformation of the telecoms infrastructure in the country. This creates confidence that Vietnam can be on par with global peers on 5G technology in the future, and is good evidence for Vietnam’s acceleration in the Industry 4.0 era,” Thieu Phuong Nam, country manager of Qualcomm Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia stressed.

Qualcomm and VinSmart partnered up in December 2018 when the two companies entered into a Patent Licensing Agreement covering multimode complete terminals. This agreement granted VinSmart a royalty-bearing patent license to develop, manufacture, and sell branded multimode complete terminals such as 4G/5G smartphones. This accelerated VinSmart’s plans to become an international-level technology conglomerate by 2028.

Since the strategic partnership agreement, VinSmart has launched 13 smartphones based on Qualcomm Snapdragon Mobile platforms both in Vietnam as well as in international markets (Spain, Russia, and Myanmar).

Qualcomm and VinSmart are also currently working on expanding the latter’s 4G/5G product offerings. This includes new product categories such as MiFi (mobile WIFI routers), Customer Premise Equipment (CPE), Wi-Fi 6 Smart Home, AI Edge and Camera, and 5G laptops for both the Vietnamese and international markets. These new products are meant to address consumer demands as trends as demand for work-from-home and online learning arrangements increases.

Some of the support Qualcomm provides VinSmart include:

• testing for PTCRB standards, a required certification for products to be marketed in the US via Qualcomm’s R&D lab in Hanoi to achieve time and cost efficiencies when bringing a device to market.
• partnership networking to connect VinSmart with Qualcomm’s collaborators in chosen markets; and

• sharing of Qualcomm’s in-market knowledge and expertise.

Qualcomm’s collaboration with VinGroup has also expanded to include its other subsidiaries including:

• VinFast: connected cars, including infotainment platforms;

• VinAI: enabling its AI algorithms using Qualcomm hardware and licensing it to other OEMs via Qualcomm’s independent software vendors (ISV) programme; and

• Others: AI Edge and AI cameras for Vingroup’s smart city projects.

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