Huawei released its fourth 5G smartphone, the Honor V30, on Tuesday. The device is powered by the Kirin 990 SoC, with prices starting from just 3,299 yuan ($470), according to Zhao Ming, CEO of the Honor series, on Tuesday.

The Honor V30 is set to be the first budget 5G smartphone, but it is also equipped with the world's first commercial SoC solution. The combination of the Kirin 990 and the Balong 500 came six months sooner than in the rest of the industry, Zhao said, and the SoC solution is one-and-a-half years ahead of other smartphone makers. Huawei's major competitor Qualcomm is yet to release its latest 5G processor, a combination of the Snapdragon 865 and the X55 modem.

Huawei's new phone also supports non-standalone/standalone (NSA/SA) dual-module networking and multiple 5G network bands provided by China's three major mobile operators.

"The dual standalone module will be the only valuable module in 2020 when the network is fully deployed," Zhao said. "Anything before that is transitional."

Huawei's global sales have been rising steadily this year. The Chinese firm surpassed Apple and maintained its 2nd place in the global market in the third quarter of 2019, according to a report by tech research firm Canalys. Huawei's shipments jumped 29 percent year-on-year to $668 million, compared to Apple's $435 million after a 7 percent decrease.

"For reasons that everybody knows, our sales increased slightly from last year," Zhao said. "We have prepared for the worst, but it's also the most prosperous path we've taken."