OPPO had an impressive 2016, its global smartphone shipment grew +99% YoY in Q4 2016 and reached 29.5 million units. We believe OPPO will remain as one of the faster growing smartphone vendors by volume this year, but the explosive growth happened in 2016 will slow down.

According to our latest report, Q4’16: OPPO: Largest Smartphone Vendor in Asia Pacific, the vendor’s headwinds in China include the intensified competition from key rivals in offline channels in lower-tier cities, how to manage and monetize wide number of distributors / retailers in low tier cities, low brand equity among affluent consumers in top tier cities, the tension with big white box retailers in top tier cities, consumer fatigues on brand, and the vendor’s low cost performance in hardware etc. Moreover, OPPO’s overseas expansion is still on the very early stage. It takes time to bear fruit and spare risks from over-crowded China market.

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