Smartphone vendors bet on design

Sales of Chinese smartphones dropped 6.7 percent in October following a decline that had lasted several months and vendors are hitting back with new designs and innovative features. 

Vivo，the country’s No. 2 smartphone brand, launched its Vivo S5 with diamond-shaped cameras, the first in its kind in the industry. With a 48-mega-pixel camera, improved selfie facility and faster fingerprint features, the new model goes on sale on Friday.

“The new product is a mixture of art and technology. We have to take method to meet all demands of photography and fashion from young consumers,” said Zhang Jiayao, product director of the Vivo S series.

Lenovo is launching a new Razr with a folding screen, rebooting Motorola’s classical design with new functions and design, the company said. 

Lenovo bought Motorola Mobility in 2014 for US$2.9 billion.

Huawei and Xiaomi have also launched concept models with folding design and ultra-high definition cameras.

In October, Chinese smartphone sales were 35.97 million units, down 6.7 percent from a year ago, according to the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.