XIAOMI has launched its contribution to a new wave of smartphones that will be able to take advantage of faster 5G mobile networks at a lower price than analysts expect from rivals such as Samsung.

The world’s fourth-largest smartphone maker unveiled the handset Sunday, trumpeting prices starting from 599 euros (US$680) when it hits the market in May, prompting gasps in the hall at the mobile industry’s biggest global event in Barcelona.

“We announced a very, very aggressive price,” Xiaomi senior vice president Wang Xiang said. “We want to drive 5G to normal consumers, so more and more people can afford to buy it.”

The next-generation wireless technology promises to ratchet up Internet speed and support an “Internet of Things” in which embedded chips enable the creation of smart networks of vehicles, household devices and more.

“5G is here, not in 2020, not late 2020; it’s here right now in 2019,” Cristiano Amon, president of chipmaker Qualcomm, which supplies Xiaomi, said during a launch event.

Amon expected the transition to 5G to be faster than that from so-called third-generation networks to the fourth.

Xiaomi initially targeted Asian markets, notably India, where it toppled Samsung as the No. 1 smartphone seller last year.

Since 2017, it has launched into Spain, France and Italy with devices enabled for 4G. Now its is turning its attention to growth potential in Africa, Wang said.

“We see the African countries building, accelerating their migration from 3G to 4G,” he said.(SD-Agencies)