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Chinese phone maker Vivo entering Hong Kong, Russia and beyond

One of China's biggest phone makers is branching out to more countries, including Singapore and Taiwan.

Aloysius Low Senior Editor
Aloysius Low is a Senior Editor at CNET covering mobile and Asia. Based in Singapore, he loves playing Dota 2 when he can spare the time and is also the owner-minion of two adorable cats.
Aloysius Low
vivoxplay6-001.jpg

The Vivo Xplay6 looked like Samsung's Galaxy S7 Edge.

Aloysius Low/CNET

You may not have heard of Vivo, but you would have seen its phones in "Captain America: Civil War.

Besides making product placement cameos, the Chinese company is actually the world's fifth largest phone maker, as well one of the big four in China alongside Huawei, Xiaomi and Oppo.

The company is set to become even bigger, with the announcement that it's now selling its phones in Hong Kong, with plans to bring its devices to Taiwan, Singapore and Russia. The African market is also on its list for early next year.

"Since our first entry into the international markets in 2014, we have been dedicated to understanding the needs of consumers through in-depth research to bring innovative and stylish products that meet their lifestyle and needs," Alex Feng, a Vivo senior vice president, said in a statement.

Vivo's phones look similar to Apple's and Samsung's. But the company isn't just about producing look-alikes. Vivo recently launched a 24-megapixel selfie phone called the Vivo V7+. It also showed off the first phone with a fingerprint scanner embedded under the display earlier this year at MWC Shanghai.