OPPO announced its new Reno 8 series on May 23rd, 2022, in China. Analyst from Strategy Analytics joined the event. Reno 8 series includes three new models - Reno 8, Reno 8 Pro, and Reno 8 Pro+, targeting to mid-tier, high-end, and premium segment, respectively.
MariSilicon X is the major upgrade inside Reno 8 series (Reno 8 Pro and Reno 8 Pro+). It is OPPO’s first in-house imaging NPU chipset unveiled several months ago. OPPO claimed that MariSilicon X can significantly boost the device’s imaging performance in challenging environments, which has a nice fit on the imaging story of Reno series. Previously, the chipset was taken by OPPO’s flagship Find X5 series only. Now, it is penetrating down to mass-market-oriented Reno series. It is a major milestone for OPPO’s in-house chipset development.
Reno 8 is powered by MTK Dimensity 8000 chipset, and Reno 8 Pro and Reno 8 Pro+ are equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 and MTK Dimensity 8100-Max, respectively. Similar as their predecessors, Reno 8 series come with impressive camera module, big battery size, fast-charging capabilities, high-quality display, and refreshing design. Young and confident embracers are the clear target of the new models.
The sales of the product will start in early June in China. OPPO is putting increasing resources on the online channel. The vendor highlighted the promotions for the upcoming 618 online festival right after the launch event. This is quite rare for OPPO but makes sense. Online channel outperforms the overall market under the tightened lock-down measures in China, and online also represents the new growth potential for the brand.
We expect Reno 8 series will be the new volume generator for OPPO in domestic market. Compared with its predecessor Reno 7, the launch price of Reno 8 is roughly 7% lower. The price cut has enhanced the competitiveness of the new devices, which in turn helps their sales in the challenging China market in 2022. At same time, we advise OPPO to pay more attention on the cannibalization risks of Reno series toward its A series in the following quarter, as the price difference between the two series is blurring.
