(Hong Kong, October 25, 2018 PRNewswire=Yonhapnews) Vivo, a long-standing partner of Qualcomm, shared its vision and insights regarding 5G development and how 5G will support a new era of smart living at the Qualcomm 4G/5G Summit held in Hong Kong from the 22nd to 24th of this month. The three-day Qualcomm 4G/5G Summit was attended by numerous leading figures from the global mobile industry.

At this conference, Zhou Wei, Vivo Vice President and Director of Vivo's Global AI Research Institute, delivered a keynote address at the AI Forum held during the conference. He focused his remarks on "Intelligent Phones, the Key to Successful 5G Development."

Director Zhou emphasized the deep integration of 5G and AI, as well as how these elements will be the key to future growth of 5G embedded smartphones. Vivo refers to 5G embedded smartphones as "Intelligent Phones." AI enables smartphones to literally learn and think, while 5G provides smartphones with faster and improved connectivity capabilities. The combination of these two elements is expected to transform smartphones from being "smart" to "intelligent" phones, providing users with superior new features and the ultimate mobile experience.

According to Director Zhou, Vivo plans to develop its first NSA and SA 5G smartphones in 2019 and commence mass production in order to launch its first pre-commercial 5G smartphone. Vivo's goal is to achieve full commercialization of 5G smartphones by 2020. As an industry leader in innovation, Vivo has invested substantial resources in the development and research of 5G smartphones, and aims to deliver the best mobile experience to consumers at the earliest possible time.

Zhou Wei presenting on the stage of the Qualcomm 4G/5G Summit

Early Drivers of 5G Development

Network connectivity capabilities, smartphone features and functions have changed dramatically from 2G in the 1990s to the current 4G era. Each time communication technology was upgraded, industry demands emerged and consumer demands also evolved. The currently evolving changes in consumer demand are a key driver of the next-generation 5G communication technology development.

Vivo, a leader in the communications industry, is one of the pioneering mobile terminal manufacturers leading 5G technology R&D and standardization. In 2016, Vivo established a 5G Research Center in Beijing and laid the foundation for 5G technology development and standardization. In the same year, Vivo joined 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) and began participating in 5G standardization work. Today, Vivo is highly active in RAN1, RAN2, RAN4, SA2, CT1 and other key technology groups within 3GPP. To date, Vivo has submitted over 1,500 technical proposals to 3GPP and is one of the mobile terminal manufacturers making major contributions within 3GPP.

Vivo making substantial investments in 5G and pursuing 5G development from the early stages

In 2018, Vivo officially commenced R&D on prototype 5G signal test equipment, and successfully achieved its first 5G call in August of this year. This represents the first major milestone in the process of completing commercial 5G smartphone hardware and software development. Building on this, Vivo plans to showcase its 5G-enabled applications on mobile terminals in December.

Vivo's 5G Mobile Phone Development: Technical Challenges and Latest Developments

As one of the key partners in the 'China Mobile 5G Device Pioneer Project,' Vivo has maximized its value on such platforms and made noteworthy contributions related to standardization of 5G terminal features including self-interference, power consumption reduction, 5G multi-antenna, low-latency and high reliability, high-level protocol design, physical layer protocol design and other terminal characteristics. Additionally, Vivo is working closely with major partners to further promote 5G development to usher in the 5G era.

Vivo 5G Signal Test Equipment Prototype

Consumers Defining 5G Embedded Smartphones

Vivo has always adhered to a consumer-centric approach in the new product innovation phase, thereby enabling consumers to enjoy personalized experiences and services. Vivo is confident that in the forthcoming 5G era, consumers will remain at the core of the smartphone industry ecosystem. Vivo is expected to play a leading role in defining the growth of 5G embedded smartphones going forward.

Thanks to the rapid advancement of smartphones and mobile networks, difficult technical challenges have been resolved, but this has resulted in continually rising consumer expectations for smartphones. Ultimately, smartphones today must be equipped with higher flexibility to think for themselves and provide personalized services. Vivo was motivated by such changes and has not only achieved major breakthroughs in 5G technology development, but also deepened its understanding of 'smarter living' and the smartphone ecosystem. Vivo's purpose is to equip smartphones with higher intelligence to better meet consumer demand.

Director Zhou stated in his keynote address, "I am confident that smartphone manufacturing will also evolve from providing basic functions to providing intelligent functions, and through all of this, consumer demand for future intelligent phones will be satisfied. In the future, advances in 5G and AI will be major drivers of numerous new scenarios and applications," he remarked.

AI Technology, the Key to Vivo's Development of 'Intelligent Phones'

Vivo is confident that the combination of 5G and AI will be a major trend in the 5G embedded smartphone era. While actively building the foundation for 5G technology, Vivo is also leading advances in AI research. In June 2017, Vivo established an AI Lab to begin AI research and development. In March 2018, it launched a new AI sub-brand, Jovi. Additionally, after more than half a year of teamwork, Vivo has achieved considerable progress in AI technology.

Director Zhou emphasizes that AI is not merely related to voice recognition, NLP or deep learning alone. Based on these technologies, AI can provide consumers with a framework capable of delivering a completely new line of products and services. Therefore, Vivo has taken a proactive stance in creating smart terminals that function as connection centers—namely mobile phones—and by connecting them to consumer needs, Vivo is building an equal, reciprocal and open platform to provide related services.

Additionally, Director Zhou detailed Vivo's understanding of AI as well as Vivo's commitment in this sector in his address. 5G will foster new application scenarios, and the future of smartphones will inherently enable self-learning, self-discovery and self-recommendation.

Vivo Leading the Establishment of IoT Open Ecosystem Alliance

On July 4 of last year, Vivo created an IoT Open Ecosystem Alliance together with other major IoT industry representatives. While adjustments will be necessary depending on the various brands, this ecosystem is expected to enable complete interoperability among devices. This will also enable developers to provide consumers with a perfect user experience when launching products. Most importantly, it allows consumers to choose products they prefer according to their needs and experiences. Based on this platform, Vivo is making substantial investments and leading the industry to build its own 'Intelligent Phone' ecosystem. The goal is to realize 5G technology application development and provide consumers with the ultimate user experience.