Vivo V30 5G series launched in South Africa

Vivo has launched its V30 and V30e  smartphones in South Africa at recommended retail prices of R19,999 and R13,999, respectively.

A relative newcomer, the Chinese smartphone maker entered the South African market in 2019 and is still solidifying its local position.

According to Statcounter Global Stats, Vivo currently has around 1.65% market share in South Africa and is close behind more established brands like Xiaomi and Oppo.

With the V30 Series, Vivo hopes to establish itself more firmly as a significant smartphone brand in the South African market.

At a launch event on Thursday, Vivo announced that this will be its first device launched on all four of South Africa’s major mobile operators — Vodacom, MTN, Telkom, and Cell C.

V30

The Vivo V30 has a 6.78-inch 1260 x 2800 AMOLED screen with up to a 120Hz refresh rate.

The screen itself takes up almost all of the front of the phone besides the top and bottom bezels, which are equally sized.

The 3D curve of the screen removes most of the bezel on the sides.

As a launch promotion, Vivo is offering those who buy the device within the first month of launch a 365-day screen damage warranty.

It has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 processor with eight cores and 512GB of onboard storage.

In South Africa, the V30 will be sold with 12GB RAM, with support for 12GB of virtual memory. According to Vivo, the fully expanded RAM allows up to 48 apps to run in the background.

For its software, the V30 will come with Android 14 and Vivo’s Funtouch OS 14 operating system customisations.

Vivo has equipped the smartphone with a 5,000mAh battery and 80W charging power, stating that it can fully recharged in 48 minutes. It uses USB-C 2.0.

The 5,000mAh battery also has a 4-year guarantee, and the company promises a battery replacement within four years as long as there is no misuse.

Aside from the additional warranties, so far these hardware specifications have been expected from a device at this price.

However, the camera features are where things get interesting. It is also Vivo’s major selling point for the V30 5G series.

The Vivo V30 boasts three rear cameras: one 50MP main shooter, one 50MP ultra-wide-angle, and a 2MP sensor.

Below the two rear cameras is a feature not common on smartphones — what Vivo calls the Aura Light Portrait System with temperature adjustment.

Vivo describes the lighting module as a tool that replaces your traditional flash to upgrade your mobile photography.

It does so by increasing the light emitting area and the light softness of a traditional flash.

The module also has automatic temperature adjustments to make photos look more natural.

On the other side, the phone boasts a 50MP selfie camera.

The Vivo V30 also offers a custom retouching algorithm for portrait photos.

In South Africa, the Vivo V30 5G will be available in Waving Aqua and Noble Black colours.

V30e

The V30 and V30e are very similar in their build, but differ substantially part from a few hardware specs.

The V30e also contains a 5000mAh battery; however, it has a different chip in the form of a Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 1.

It has a smaller 256GB storage capacity and 12GB RAM, with 12GB of virtual memory.

Vivo has placed additional focus on customer care with the launch of the V30 Series.

Customer support promises

Vivo made the following promises regarding its after-sales support:

• No labour fees for repairs
• A maximum repair time of 1 hour
• Free nationwide delivery and collection
• Free protective film
• Free appointment service to skip queues