Last year, 5G directly led to 810.9 billionyuan (125 billion U.S. dollars) in gross economic output, according to a whitepaper on 5G development and its economic and social impact. The 5G industrycreated massive direct economic output in 2020, according to a new whitepaper.The 5G industry directly generated 189.7 billion yuan of economic valueadded (EVA) and indirectly brought about 2.1 trillion yuan in gross output in2020, the white paper said. 5G also indirectly led to about 760.6 billion yuanof EVA last year.

In the first quarter of this year comparedwith the big setback caused by the COVID-19 pandemic at the same period lastyear,China's phone market boomed with phone shipments reaching 97.97 millionunits, up 100.1 percent from the same period last year, said the China Academyof Information and Communications Technology on Monday.

In the first three months, about 122 newmodels were released, up 48.8 percent in comparison to 2020, including 98 typesof smartphones.In March, a total of 36.09 million phones were shipped,increasing 65.9 percent year-on-year, with 41 newly-released models, up 32.3percent from a year earlier.

As 5G telecommunication technology hasmatured, 5G smartphone shipments surged to around 27.50 million units lastmonth, accounting for 76.2 percent of the total shipment volume.Shipments of 5Gsmartphones in Q1 hit 69.85 million units, with 64 new models landing in themarket.

The total shipments for the Chinesesmartphone market are estimated to expand six percent on a yearly basis in2021, to about 340-350 million units, said Wang Xi, the Chinese analysismanager of IDC, a global market intelligence firm, the 21th Century BusinessHerald reported.

Spring is in the air and Chinese smartphonemakers are anticipating that the new season will help the industry to recoverthe ground it lost due to the COVID-19 epidemic fallout.

Companies are vying with each other tounveil the latest cutting-edge premium handsets after a new report showed thatsmartphone shipments in China rose by 236.6 percent on a yearly basis inFebruary.

During the month when China's SpringFestival took place, more than 21.3 million smartphones were shipped out offactories to retailers across the country, said the China Academy ofInformation and Communications Technology.

That is in sharp contrast to February 2020when the pandemic was paralyzing the nation and almost all smartphone shopsstruggled to keep their doors open.

Spring is a time of rebirth, renewal andawakening, and Chinese smartphone vendors now see the season as a perfect timeto rekindle competition for top bragging rights in the nation.

In March, dozens of smartphone launchevents were held. Vivo alone held three events to release three new phoneseries in the month and its rival Realme also held two. And because smartphonecompanies tend to select auspicious days to unveil new products, they often endup releasing phones on the same day.

For instance, Vivo and another smartphonemaker Meizu both unveiled their new 5G phones on March 3. Realme and Nubia bothheld launches on March 4.

In the second half of March, the battle waseven fiercer. From March 22-25, device makers Honor, Oppo and Vivo unveiledtheir new 5G smartphones one after another. Four days later, on March 29,Xiaomi unveiled its latest flagship models.

Such a frenzied smartphone release schedulehas not been seen in recent years as the global smartphone market hit asaturation point and people did not have a desire to upgrade their handsets,said Fu Liang, an independent telecom expert who has been following theindustry for more than a decade.

"Such a revival signals that thespring battle for 5G smartphone market supremacy in China is game on,especially in the high-end segment. This comes while Huawei, the formerlongtime champion of the local market, was impacted in its smartphone businessfollowing restrictions by the United States government," Fu said.

Sensing the opportunity left by Huawei inthe $600-and-above premium segment, local smartphone makers are all beefing upresources to show consumers their advances in product design, research anddevelopment, as well as ambitions in expanding retail channels.

Chinese smartphone vendor OnePlus hasunveiled its latest 5G model OnePlus 9R, as it scrambles to attract moreconsumers with high-quality handsets.

Priced from 2,999 yuan ($460) in China, theOnePlus 9R is powered by US chip giant Qualcomm's Snapdragon 870 chipset. Itfeatures a 6.55-inch display with a 120Hz refresh rate and a quad-camera setupon the back.

Liu Zuohu, founder and CEO of OnePlus, saidin a statement in this price range, there are few products like the OnePlus 9Rthat have both superior performance and advanced quality.

The company has also been working hard toexpand its presence in the high-end smartphone market and offline retail.OnePlus said earlier it has more than 1,000 employees working on growingoffline retail partnerships.

Liu Zuohu, founder and CEO of OnePlus, aChinese smartphone vendor known for its dedication to design details, said thecompany will spare no efforts this year to expand its presence in the high-endsegment.

"We will invest 1 billion yuan ($152.9million) over the next three years to continuously seek breakthroughs in colorand professional experience to create the ultimate mobile imagingexperience," Liu said.

The company announced a partnership withSwedish professional camera maker Hasselblad in March under which Hasselbladwill help its smartphones develop better photo-taking capabilities.

Such a commitment is already reflected inthe latest OnePlus 9 series, unveiled on March 24, featuring cameras thatHasselblad helped develop.

OnePlus, which chiefly relies on e-commercesites for sales, said it will ramp up efforts to expand its presence in theoffline retail channels, with more than 1,000 employees now working in thisarea.

Rival Oppo made its ambitions even clearerafter the brand rose through the ranks to become the top smartphone brand inChina for the first time in January, with a market share of 21 percent, saidCounterpoint Research.

Domestic brands continued to dominatemobile phone shipments in March, hitting 33.35 million units and accounting for92.4 percent of total shipments.

Smartphone shipments came in at 35.27million units last month, surging 67.7 percent year-on-year.In March, a totalof 41 new models were released into the market, up 32.3 percent year-on-year,according to the CAICT.

As Chinese consumers become more willing toupgrade their handsets, 5G smartphones are expected to account for more than 80percent of overall smartphone shipments in China in the second half of thisyear, a senior official from the nation's top industry regulator said onMonday.

Liu Liehong, vice-minister of Industry andInformation Technology, said in March that 5G smartphones already accounted formore than 76 percent of overall smartphone shipments in China.

According to Liu, China has preliminarilybuilt the world's largest 5G network, with 260 million 5G mobile connections.

China's phone market boomed in the firstquarter of this year compared with the big setback caused by the COVID-19pandemic at the same period last year, with phone shipments reaching 97.97million units, up 100.1 percent from the same period last year, according tothe China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, a Beijing-basedthink tank.

In March, a total of 36.09 million phoneswere shipped, increasing 65.9 percent year-on-year, with 41 newly-releasedmodels, up 32.3 percent from a year earlier.

The ministry also is working hard to reducethe digital divide between urban and rural areas by encouraging telecomcompanies to build base stations and optical networks for relatively poorareas.

Huawei Technologies Co is well-positionedto pursue sustainable innovation in 5G thanks to its long-term spending inresearch and development, despite challenges, a company executive said.

Gan Bin, vice-president of Huawei'swireless network product line, said a leading product is the result oflong-term technological accumulation, and the wireless network is not justabout innovation on a single component, but about the overall systemengineering, so the impacts of the US digital components are actually verysmall.

According to him, Huawei has long hadadvantages in 5G wireless network products, including 5G base stations, aftersustained heavy investments into the wireless technology.

Gan made the comments at the sidelines ofthe 18th Huawei Global Analyst Summit which was held in Shenzhen earlier thisweek. At the summit, Huawei and China Mobile (Shanghai) Industrial ResearchInstitute announced a white paper for 5G positioning titled Open ApplicationProgramming Interface (API) Industry.

To strengthen platform interoperability,the white paper defines 5G network positioning APIs of different types andfunctions, which enable industry customers to access location services andimprove collaboration between all parties on the 5G positioning industry chain.With these APIs, operators' 5G positioning platforms can facilitate positioningservices such as map management, location alarm and track query, Huawei said.

The Chinese tech giant is working hard toscale up the application of 5G in a greater variety of sectors. In February, itlaunched a new 5G solution for businesses. Huawei said it has worked withoperators, partners and enterprise users to first apply the 5G solution forbusinesses in the steel industry. With their capabilities and experienceembedded into this platform, industrial 5G solutions like automated billetrotation, remote assembly assisted by augmented reality, and steel surfacequality inspection, can be standardized and rapidly replicated.