Vivo recently announced the launch of its latest sub-brand iQoo. The company has not provided tons of details about the devices that will launch under the new sub-brand, except for a few spec confirmations about a flagship handset.
The new smartphone under the iQoo brand will feature a Snapdragon 855 chipset, 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. The information provided paints a clear picture that Vivo may use the iQoo branding on their top-tier smartphones. The new handset will also boast a 4,000 mAh battery capacity with support for 44W fast charging. Few of the other known details of the upcoming phone include – 4D, NFC, Super HDR camera, and the USB Type-C support.
Current specs Vivo has provided about their upcoming iQoo phone reveal that the brand may tackle the top-tier smartphone spectrum, going head-to-head with handsets likes of the Galaxy S10 family, Xiaomi’s Mi9 and future 2019 flagships.
However, Vivo could take the iQoo brand in another direction: The Gaming direction. Gaming phones have gained considerable momentum in the past two years. Several companies like Razer, Asus and Xiaomi are manufacturer handsets dedicated to gaming, even Samsung and Huawei sub-brand Honor have jumped on the gaming-phone band-wagon with specific gaming-centric handsets. This could explain Vivo’s desire to enter the mobile gaming space.
Whatever the company’s motives to launch a new sub-brand, it shouldn’t come as any surprise. Large Chinese manufacturers often start sub-brands to appeal to different audiences. Take for example Huawei who use the Honor sub-brand to target the affordable and mid-range market, while premium handsets are sold under the Huawei brand.
The question as to why Vivo has taken this route isn’t entirely clear as the company is owned by BBK Electronics who also own Oppo and OnePlus. Both Realme and OnePlus – initially founded by Oppo executives – have become standalone companies. However, we’ll just have to wait until the 1st of March – when Vivo launch the first smartphone under the iQoo brand – to know where the future of the company stands.
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