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Vivo, a mobile phone manufacturer headquartered in south China's Guangdong Province, said Tuesday it has launched 6G research and development to cope with new challenges brought by data explosion in the future.

"Although the commercial use of 5G has just started, Vivo has already rolled out layouts for 6G, exploring the next-generation technology ahead of time," said Qin Fei, head of the Vivo Communications Research Institute.

According to Qin, the company's exploration of 6G is still at an early stage, and the institute has set up a specialized team to demonstrate the application scenarios of 6G technology and has participated in several industry-initiated thematic discussions.

Qin said the team would cooperate with domestic and foreign universities for further in-depth research on the technology.

Vivo became the world's fifth-largest smartphone maker in the fourth quarter last year, market research firm Counterpoint said in a report. Data provided by Vivo shows that the number of its network users has reached about 300 million.