Chinese phone giant Huawei has launched a new smartphone with a built-in wallet for China’s central bank digital currency.
Announced Friday, the company unveiled the new device – Huawei Mate 40 among other products. CEO Yu Chendong, says the Mate40 smartphone is the first mobile device to enable in-built hardware wallet for China’s digital yuan also called DCEP (Digital Currency, Electronic Payment).
“#HuaweiMate40# series is the first smartphone that supports digital RMB hardware wallet, hardware-level security, controllable anonymity protection, dual offline transactions, bringing a new safe and convenient payment experience.”
Further details show the Mate 40 will provide hardware level security and anonymity for the digital yuan, combined with the capability to initiate transactions even in offline mode.
Huawei says its new device is a first step to expanding the usage of the digital yuan especially on mobile gadgets.
Sadly, the Mate 40 may be the last Android-powered Huawei smartphone as the company moves to cope with U.S. sanctions which restricts them from purchasing certain tech for making these gadgets.
U.S. sanctions and over dependence on the US dollar (USD) for global trade are tipped as major factors behind China’s speedy development of its digital currency.
The Huawei announcement comes weeks after China had begun first tests of the digital currency by select institutions and cities in the country.
Also this week, it has been reported that China has given legal status to the digital yuan as its official central bank digital currency (CBDC) – a move which aims to ward off competition from private cryptocurrencies and competitors.
The Huawei Mate 40 has a similarity with the Mate 20 model.
Key faetures incude: Weight: 188g. Screen: 6.5inch 1080×2376 OLED. Battery: 4,400mAh. Processor: 5nm Kirin 9000 5G chipset. 8GB RAM and 128 GB of storage.
The phone features a 50 megapixel camera, 16MP ultrawide lens, 13 MP dual lens camera at the front with a 3D depth sensor which controls the Mate 40’s facial unlock system.
