BARCELONA -- Shaking off their copycat reputation, Chinese tech firms are enjoying a growing presence at this week’s Mobile World Congress, previously dominated by Korean and Japanese companies.

This year, five Chinese handset makers Huawei, Oppo, TCL, Lenovo and ZTE joined the exhibition at Hall 3, the main MWC area where Samsung, LG and Nokia are also located.

The Chinese firms’ rapid advancement was prominent even before the tech congress kicked off Monday. When Huawei launched its new smartphone P10 on Sunday, hundreds of people were seen in queues that stretched for up to 500 meters away from the media conference.

Huawei set up its booth facing Samsung Electronics, which has been one of the stars of the exhibition, to showcase its new products and solutions. 

“I tried several phones here (at Huawei’s booth) and it was quite impressive,” said Oriol Pausas, a Spanish college student at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia.

“My perception on smartphones made by China has changed a lot over the last five years. I have faith in their products now because of their good quality and features,” he added, showing his Xiaomi Mi phone.

Kevin Ho, Huawei’s handset business chief told The Korea Herald, “Huawei’s consumer business group has shown rapid growth in the past years and owes this growth to heavy R&D investment, partnerships with global leading companies, and customer oriented value.”

Meanwhile, Oppo has fast grown to become the No. 1 smartphone maker in China and No. 4 globally. This marks the third time the company has participated in the MWC. This year, it joined Hall 3 for the first time, showcasing its 5x Dual Camera Zoom technology. Although it did not unveil new smartphones featuring the zoom technology, it let users experience the new camera technology by comparing it with Apple’s iPhone 7.

Oppo said its brand profile at the event has grown since the company’ first participation in 2014. 

“In 2014 when we first participated in the event, we were nobody,” recalled Charles Tan, a public relations director at Oppo’s overseas brand department.

“Things have changed a lot over the last years. Many companies and media around the world have visited our booth this year for inquiries and potential partnership,” he added.

Other Chinese handset makers TCL and Lenovo were also present at Hall 3 during the event. TCL, which acquired Blackberry last year, unveiled its new smartphone KEYone, designed around Blackberry’s original shape.

Lenovo, which acquired Motorola in 2014, displayed its new phone Moto G5 alongside the Phab 2 Pro featuring augmented reality.

By Shin Ji-hye / Korea Herald correspondent
(shinjh@heraldcorp.com)