Barcelona, Feb 23: Heating up the race to showcase innovations ahead of MWC Barcelona, Chinese smartphone maker OPPO on Saturday unveiled its first 5G smartphone. The camera-centric smartphone brand also showcased a 10x lossless zoom technology for enhanced smartphone photography. The smartphone with this technology that offers significant improvement over OPPO's previous 5x zoom technology will be launched in the second quarter of this year, said Chuck Wang, Product Manager, OPPO. MWC 2019: Huawei Mate X is World's Fastest 5G Foldable Phone; Launched in Barcelona at Euro 2299.

OPPO's 5G smartphone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor, paired with the chipmaker's X50 5G modem, integrated RF (radio frequency) transceiver and RF front-end solutions.

"Innovation is our top priority and we have made many recent developments to bring the future into consumer's hands. We look forward to continuing with this commitment and bringing to market more advances particularly in 5G and photography," OPPO Vice-President Anyi Jiang said. MWC 2019: Microsoft's New HoloLens 2 With Eye-Tracking Sensor Launched in Barcelona at $3500.

With over 10 per cent share in the India smartphone market, OPPO became the fourth-biggest smartphone player in the country in 2018 after Xiaomi, Samsung and Vivo, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC).

Earlier this week, South Korean tech giant Samsung unveiled Galaxy S10 5G, the company's first smartphone that will work in a 5G network. OPPO first showcased a 5G prototype of its flagship "Find X" smartphone in China in December 2018. The OPPO Find X was launched last year. The company said it was committed to working with carrier partners like Swisscom, Telstra, Optus and Singtel to promote the implementation of 5G products and services. MWC 2019: Nokia 9 PureView is World's First Smartphone With Penta Camera Setup; Priced at $699.

OPPO said it had set up a 5G standardisation team back in 2015 and invested in design and technology to ensure the production of a desirable phone that doesn't compromise on functionality to accommodate 5G features and benefits. The arrival of its first 5G smartphone could revolutionise consumers' lives through faster video download/upload and open paths for new gaming experiences among other things. MWC 2019: Huawei MateBook X Pro, Portable MateBook 13, Matebook 14 Launched; Prices Starts From Euros 999.

But these phones will work only when 5G network actually arrives. That, however, is not stopping tech companies from showcasing their 5G-ready devices. Chinese giant Huawei is also set to showcase its first foldable and 5G-ready smartphone on the eve of MWC Barcelona.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 25, 2019 12:55 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).