OPPO slightly outperformed global smartphone market in Q2 2020 with -15% annual decline rate amid COVID-19 pandemic. If adding back its sibling brand OnePlus and realme, OPPO as a whole posted a modest -7% YoY decline rate this quarter, much better than the global average (-17% YoY).
OPPO’s market share declined in China and its strong momentum in India was softened. However, OPPO made solid progress in Europe and Japan with major wins in key operator partners.
OPPO is catching up quickly in the 5G segment. Its newly-launched Reno 4 series showed strong momentum. Positioned as new flagship model, Reno 4 series hit the market in June 2020 in China with two key selling points: video stabilization in the dark environment and OPPO’s proprietary 65W fast-charging capability. Equipped with Qualcomm 765G chipset, Reno 4 spots a 6.4 inch AMOLED display, 48MP+8MP+2MP triple rear camera, 32MP front camera, and 4020MAh battery. Reno 4 Pro was upgraded to a 6.5 inch flexible AMOLED display and 48MP+12MP+13MP triple rear camera. Compared with its predecessors, OPPO changed the go-to-market strategy of Reno 4 series. The starting price of Reno 4 series is roughly 12% less than that of Reno 3 series. In addition, OPPO re-embraced its celebrity endorsement tradition this quarter and partnered with local short-video platform Kuaishou (Kwai as overseas version) to attract Generation Z.
OPPO keeps own pattern on technology innovations. It showcased its 125W fast-charging solution (which can fully charge a 4000mAh battery phone within 20 minutes) and 65W wireless charging solution (which can do so within 30 minutes) in July. Battery life has been the major pain points for smartphone users for years and fast-charging is a useful feature. But now the question is when the technology will be commercially available in the market. Actually, vivo demoed its 120W fast-charging solution a year ago, but has not yet brought the technology to the market. It will be a wow factor if OPPO’s upcoming flagship models can feature the demoed features, for example, new ACE series.
In addition, OPPO confirmed the plan to develop proprietary chipset for own devices. The chip technology is a crucial driving force in 5G era and Huawei has set up a good example how vendor can benefit from in-house chipset. Considering US tightening ban on Chinese companies as well as Chinese government’s support on semiconductor industry, these two external factors are likely to strengthen OPPO’s ambitious on its own chipset development. However, developing chipset will take time and tremendous resources. We don’t expect these initiatives will bear fruits in the short run.
Our latest insight report on OPPO - Q2 ’20: Solid Progress in Europe and Japan - was published. WSS clients can access the full report via this link.