Vivo unveils 'AI selfie' smartphone

China's smartphone producer Vivo officially unveiled Vivo V9, its latest flagship smartphone, at a ceremony in Le Méridien Dhaka on Monday night.

Available in "Pearl Black and Gold" at Tk 29,990, the new handset comes with "artificial intelligence (AI) selfie features, AR Stickers, Face Unlock and Face Beauty Mode", reads a press release.

"V9 represents our understanding of consumers' need for their mobile camera to automatically create the 'perfect shot' in any scenario," Du Baohua, chief executive officer of Vivo of Bangladesh, told the ceremony.

The smartphone was earlier launched in India, Thailand, the Philippines and elsewhere in the world.

Its "AI Face Beauty" uses a comprehensive database of almost 1 million facial images, allowing detection of age, sex and skin textures and tones as well as lighting environment, before users' preferred enhancements are applied.

Beyond photography, the AI also optimises and supports the phone's operations with the "AI Smart Engine" which prioritises system resources according to user habits.