(Yicai Global) Oct. 30 -- Chinese telecoms giant Huawei Technologies released its Chinese mainland version of the Huawei Mate 40 smartphone today, saying the handset is the first to support a digital yuan wallet.

The Mate 40 has near field communications technology featuring encrypted storage and transactions-between-devices functionality, which allows the use of digital yuan on smartphones, Yu Chengdong, chief executive of the firm’s consumer business group, said at the launch event today.

China is at the international forefront of digital sovereign currency development and has been piloting use of its e-yuan this year, including a recent test with consumers and retailers in the southern tech hub of Shenzhen.

The Mate 40 is priced at between CNY4,999 (USD747) and CNY13,999 (USD2,092) in China, lower than in Europe. Reservations have outstripped supply since the phones were rolled out overseas, so production has been stepped up recently, Yu said.

The Mate 40 will ship with a charger, Yu noted, unlike Apple’s latest iPhone 12 series.

Shenzhen-based Huawei also announced that its smart car system, HiCar, is being used by more than 150 vehicle models. The technology is set to be pre-installed in more than 5 million vehicles next year, said He Gang, president of Huawei's mobile phone product line.

The company unveiled a new smart car solution called HI at the press conference. HI integrates smart cockpits, smart driving, smart networking, smart car cloud, and a complete set of lidar components to help automakers quickly develop smart cars, said Wang Jun from Huawei's smart car solution unit.

Editor: Tom Litting