On Monday, Oppo launched its Find X7 and Find X7 Ultra flagship smartphones in China, emphasizing their innovative camera features. The Find X7 Ultra stands out as the world’s first device to feature dual periscope zoom cameras with a 1-inch Sony LYT-900 sensor, and claims to have the largest telephoto sensor ever integrated in a smartphone. With the Find X7 Ultra, Oppo also becomes only the second domestic brand after Huawei to offer a satellite phone function.

Why it matters: Oppo is hoping to capitalize on consumer excitement for new technology at the dawn of 2024, seeking a competitive edge by introducing hi-spec innovations at a time when China’s mobile phone market is increasingly saturated.

Details: The Find X7 Ultra debuts Oppo’s quad main camera and advanced 1-inch Sony LYT-900 sensor, combining breakthroughs in camera hardware with its HyperTone camera system and pro-grade Hasselblad tuning.

• The Find X7 Ultra packs in four 50MP main cameras, including two equipped with a periscope zoom lens, bridging the zoom gap between optical focal lengths. The 50MP 3x periscope zoom camera features a 1/1.56” Sony IMX890 sensor, an f/2.6 aperture, and a 65mm focal length. This sensor is approximately three times the size of cameras found in major competitors’ phone systems, with Oppo claiming it as the largest telephoto sensor in any smartphone currently on the market.
• The wide camera features an advanced second-generation Sony LYT-900 1-inch sensor, touted as having improved power efficiency compared to its predecessor. With a customized lens with an f/1.8 aperture and optical image stabilization (OIS), it also promises a 50% reduction in reflection, all at a versatile 23mm optical focal length.
• When users need to zoom out, the ultra-wide camera comes into play with its 50MP Sony LYT-600 sensor. This camera delivers expansive and detailed shots at a focal distance of as near as 4cm, thanks to its large size focal length and fast f/2.0 aperture, according to Oppo.
• The Find X7 Ultra also includes software additions like the HyperTone Image Engine, giving users advanced computational photography options and features for high-quality photos.
• The flagship is equipped with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, featuring a large 5,000mAh battery capable of fast 100W wired charging and 50W wireless charging. Its 6.82-inch display offers a 1440p resolution, a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz, and a peak brightness reaching 4500 nits for HDR content.
• The Find X7 Ultra will be available in three colors: black, blue, and brown. Currently, the phone remains exclusive to the Chinese market, with no release planned for Europe or the US. Prices start at RMB 5,999 ($845) for a model with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, going up to RMB 6,999 ($986) for 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.

Context: In the third quarter of 2023, the global smartphone market fell 1% year-on-year, to 299.8 million units sold, according to research firm Counterpoint. Today’s top five global phone brands are Samsung (with a 20% market share), Apple (16%), Oppo (14%), Xiaomi (14%), and Vivo (7%).

On Tuesday, Oppo smartphone subsidiary OnePlus unveiled its flagship series OnePlus 12 just in time to celebrate the brand’s tenth anniversary on Dec. 16. To showcase the specifications of the new device, OnePlus China’s CEO Li Jie spent a full three hours describing it in detail at the launch event, making regular comparisons to Xiaomi’s 14 Pro throughout.

Why it matters: The launch of OnePlus’ new flagship is a direct challenge to Xiaomi and its subsidiary Redmi, as the Oppo sub-brand looks to focus on high-quality smartphones with cutting-edge features offered at competitive prices. 

Details: At the launch event, OnePlus repeatedly compared the OnePlus 12’s software and hardware capabilities with those of the Xiaomi 14 Pro, emphasizing its starting price of RMB 4,299 ($606), compared to the latter’s RMB 4,999 ($705).

• The OnePlus 12 features a 2K BOE screen with medical-grade eye protection, the Find imaging system created in collaboration with Hasselblad, and the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset.
• OnePlus claims to have worked with Chinese display panel maker BOE for the past two years to create the 2K BOE screen for the OnePlus 12. The screen boasts medical-grade eye protection and industry-leading peak brightness of 4,500 nits. 
• The OnePlus 12 offers a camera setup that includes a 50 MP Sony LYT-808 sensor, a 48 MP IMX481 ultra-wide-angle lens, and a 64 MP Omnivision OV64B periscope telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom. For selfies and video calls, it is equipped with a 32 MP Sony IMX615 sensor at the front. The Find camera system is enhanced with Hasselblad branding and tuning technology, ensuring a high-quality imaging experience, according to OnePlus.
• The new flagship comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor under its hood. Working in conjunction with the Adreno GPU, the smartphone aims to achieve an improved gaming performance, thanks to the PixelWorks X7 Visual processor, as claimed by the company.
• The phone has a 5,400 mAh dual-cell battery, marking the largest capacity ever applied in a OnePlus device. It can charge at up to 50W via the company’s self-developed AirVOOC technology, which is three times faster than the 15W rate of Apple’s MagSafe wireless chargers. 
• The entry level model with 12GB RAM + 256GB storage is priced at RMB 4,299 ($606), while the premium version of 24GB RAM + 1TB storage is available at RMB 5,799 ($818). The phone is available in black, green, and white.

Context: In June 2021, OnePlus announced it had merged teams with Oppo, its parent company, to streamline its operations. 

• According to market research platform Counterpoint, Oppo and Xiaomi accounted for 14% of each of global smartphone shipments in the third quarter of 2023, with both firms shipping around 41.5 million units. Oppo’s data includes figures for its OnePlus brand.
• The Xiaomi 14 and 14 Pro, the first phones to feature the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, were launched on Oct. 26 in China. The two smartphones are currently only available in China but are expected to launch globally in early 2024.
• OnePlus founder and chief product officer Liu Zuohu stated at the anniversary event that OnePlus smartphones are available in 10,000 Oppo offline stores in China.

Oppo launched its latest high-end foldable phone, the Find N3, on Oct. 19, highlighting advances in screen, imaging, security, and system interaction. The 12GB+512GB variant is priced at RMB 9,999 ($1,392), while the collection edition with 16GB+1TB storage costs RMB 12,999 ($1,810). The new device comes in three colors: green, gold, and black. Our team was given a fortnight to review a black 12GB+512GB model.

The Find N3 is a stylish device, albeit slightly weighty in the hand, with a dual high-resolution display, and a processor that plays to its visual prowess. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor ensures a steady performance, placing it among the top foldable smartphones currently available. 

Mature leathery design

The leather case with a discernible grain offers users a comfortable grip and a pleasant feel. In terms of dimensions, when folded, the device feels hefty both in the hand and pocket compared with other non-foldable devices’ lightweight profiles. However, for a foldable device, the Find N3 surprises with its relatively lightweight, coming in at approximately 239 grams. The device boasts a thin profile, measuring a mere 5.8mm when unfolded and 11.7mm when closed.

In terms of overall appearance, the Find N3 leans towards the classic, giving it a business look. This is an aesthetic geared somewhat towards older generations.

LTPO technology and durable hinges

The Find N3 unfolds to a 7.82-inch screen with a resolution of 2,440 x 2,268 pixels, and the outer cover screen measures 6.31 inches with a resolution of 2,484 x 1,116 pixels. LTPO (low-temperature polycrystalline oxide) technology makes a smooth 1-120Hz dynamic refresh rate possible for fluid scrolling and gameplay, with up to 2,800 nits peak brightness.

Both screens are covered in toughened glass, improving drop resistance and strength. In addition to IPX4 splash resistance, the Find N3 is the first phone to be independently tested to withstand one million folds by TÜV Rheinland, according to Oppo. The phone’s crease is not visible unless you look at it from a certain angle.

Enhanced imaging performance

The Find N3’s camera system is branded by Hasselblad and sets new benchmarks in its category. It features two selfie cameras, with a 20MP camera inside and a 32MP camera on the cover screen. On the back, there is a 48MP LYTIA-T808 sensor from Sony, which is a 1/1.43″ sensor equipped with dual-layer transistor technology. This technology ensures great light sensitivity and ultimately leads to improved image quality.

The device’s day and night time photography capabilities stand out within the foldable phone category, as evidenced by the following images. In portrait mode, photos have a great sense of contrast, even in low light.

Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 powers high-performance gaming

The Find N3 features the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 with 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB. Qualcomm unveiled the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 at its Snapdragon Summit on Oct. 24 but as no foldable phone currently on the market features the new processor yet, the N3 is the most powerful in its category. Our two-hour test of the mobile game Honor of Kings revealed stable performance without any overheating. Stereo speakers also enhance gameplay.

Users can play the same game on two different screen sizes: unfolded and folded. Although the display size and games have been adjusted to some extent, the gaming experience may feel quite different to what users are used to when the phone is unfolded. Gaming enthusiasts be warned that, folded, it also takes some time to get used to the phone’s thickness.

High-capacity battery 

The Find N3 is equipped with a high-capacity 4,850mAh battery. For reference, the iPhone 15 Pro features a battery rated at 3,274mAh. Our practical tests have shown that the new Oppo phone’s battery life can support a full day’s use even under moderate or high-intensity usage. The phone also supports 67W fast charging technology and can be fully charged in around an hour.

Privacy protection and office functions

The Find N3 offers multiple privacy protection functions, including a security chip with national encryption certification, file encryption technology, and end-to-end cloud transmission encryption. The device is equipped with a button on the side, allowing users to easily switch to “VIP” mode, which disables the camera, microphone, and location permissions in one go. 

On the software interaction front, the Find N3 improves office efficiency by enabling users to directly access files made in Apple’s office trio Keynote, Pages, and Numbers, as well as CAD engineering drawings. This breaks down a barrier between Android and Apple, enabling seamless file sharing.

Conclusion

The Oppo Find N3 performs well in terms of chipset performance, screen quality, camera capabilities, and battery life, setting a new benchmark in the foldable smartphone category. It is just as well that the Find N3 is suitable for business professionals, as its relatively high price excludes many other consumer groups.

Pros

• Thin and lightweight entrant in the foldable category
• Leathery design for a firm grip
• LPTO screen with 120Hz adaptive refresh rate
• Great camera performance for a foldable phone
• Large battery and 67W fast charging technology
• Self-developed security chip

Cons

• Slightly heavy for long-time use and carrying in the pocket 
• Gaming on the device takes some getting used to
• No wireless charging support
• Expensive

Chinese phone maker Oppo released its new generation foldable the Find N3 on Thursday, combining a lightweight folding design with flagship imaging capabilities for the first time. 

Why it matters: Foldable phones may offer flexible displays and portability, but their camera performance has long been a concern for customers comparing them to conventional models. The Oppo Find N3 has ushered in a “new era of foldable imaging”, the company claimed at the launch event.

Details: The camera setup on the Oppo Find N3 features Hasselblad branding and is looking to set a new standard in the foldable category. 

• On the rear, it incorporates Sony’s cutting-edge 48MP LYTIA-T808 pixel-stacked sensor, which is a 1/1.43″ unit equipped with dual-layer transistor technology. Essentially, this sensor boasts a redesigned pixel architecture that enhances light sensitivity, leading to better image quality.
• On the front, the Find N3 offers two selfie cameras: a 20MP camera inside and a remarkable 32MP camera on the cover screen. The device also includes a 48MP 1/2″ sensor paired with a 14mm f/2.2 ultrawide lens with autofocus. In terms of the zoom camera, it features a 64MP 1/2″ sensor with a 3x 70mm f/2.6 stabilized periscope lens, enabling hybrid zoom capabilities of up to 6x or 145mm.
• Under the hood, the Oppo Find N3 operates on the cutting-edge Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 flagship processor, coupled with a substantial 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB of storage. It packs a 4,805mAh battery that supports 67W fast charging, achieving a full charge in 42 minutes, according to Oppo.
• The model follows the trend of compact, wide book-style foldable smartphones. On its exterior, it features a 6.31-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 2484×1116 pixels and a variable refresh rate ranging from 10 to 120 Hz. The screen adopts a 20:9 aspect ratio and delivers a peak brightness of up to 2,800 nits. When unfolded, the Find N3 reveals a larger 7.82-inch display with a resolution of 2440×2268 pixels and a dynamic refresh rate varying from 1 to 120 Hz, along with the same maximum brightness level.
• The Find N3 boasts another distinctive feature in its self-developed Flexion Hinge. This hinge has undergone extensive testing of 1,000,000 folds, the company says, demonstrating the enduring durability and reliability of the foldable hinge over an extended period.
• The standard model of 12GB+512GB storage is priced at RMB 9,999 ($1,366), while the premium edition of 16GB+1TB is priced at RMB 12,999 ($1,776). It comes in four colors: red, black, gold, and green.

Contexts: In the second quarter of 2023, the global market for foldable smartphones witnessed a 10% year-on-year increase, reaching a total of 2.1 million units, as reported by Counterpoint. This growth stands in sharp contrast to the overall global smartphone market, which experienced a significant 9% year-on-year decline in shipments during the same period. 

• Notably, the Chinese foldable smartphone market saw an impressive surge of 64% year-on-year, totaling 1.2 million units. As a result, China now dominates the global foldable smartphone market, holding a substantial 58.6% share.
• On August 29, Oppo unveiled the Find N3 Flip in China, marking it as the world’s first clamshell foldable smartphone, equipped with a trio of cameras on its cover.

The Indian Ministry of Finance informed the Indian parliament that prominent Chinese smartphone manufacturers, including Xiaomi, Vivo, and Oppo, evaded tariffs and illegally remitted a minimum of 80 billion rupees ($980 million) in India, according to a CNBC report on July 21. The report also stated that the Indian tax authorities were able to retrace only 18% of the total amount evaded by these companies.

Why it matters: With its vast population and rapid economic development, India has become an attractive destination for numerous international enterprises seeking to enter the local market. In recent years, Chinese mobile phone manufacturers have achieved significant success in the Indian market. However, the issue of tax evasion has gradually emerged as a prominent concern, drawing the attention of Indian authorities.

Details: According to the CNBC report, Chinese mobile phone brands are accused of evading taxes by manipulating financial data, engaging in fictitious transactions, and overpaying fees to affiliated companies. 

• India’s Ministry of Finance reported that the combined turnover of Chinese phone brands in India, which also includes Transsion, Realme, and OnePlus, amounted to 15 billion rupees ($180 million) from 2021 to 2022, leading to the creation of 75,000 employment opportunities for local citizens. Furthermore, these companies have employed 80,000 sales and operation staff across India.
• Xiaomi’s total tax evasion reached 11.37 billion rupees ($140 million) during 2019-2023, while Oppo evaded tariffs to the value of 44.03 billion rupees ($540 million), according to Indian authorities. 
• The Indian Ministry of Finance claimed that there have been a total of 13 similar cases involving tax evasion on goods and services by these companies from July 2017 to June 2023. Specifically, Xiaomi was reported to have paid interest amounting to 3.17 million rupees ($39,000) and a fine of 1.33 million rupees ($15,000) from 2019 to 2020.
• In April 2022, Indian authorities accused Xiaomi of illegally transferring money to foreign entities in the form of royalty payments since 2015, freezing the company’s funds of 55 billion rupees ($680 million) in the bank accounts of its Indian subsidiaries. Xiaomi refuted these allegations and stated that these royalty payments were made for the licensed technology and intellectual property used in the Indian versions of its products. Despite Xiaomi’s re-appeal to address the situation, the Indian government rejected the firm’s demand to unfreeze its funds.
• In July 2022, India’s financial crime agency blocked 119 bank accounts linked to Vivo’s India business, which collectively held 4.65 billion rupees ($58.76 million). This move came as part of an investigation into alleged money laundering activities. The Indian authorities conducted raids at 48 locations belonging to Vivo and 23 entities connected to the company. The allegations suggested that the proceeds of Vivo India’s sales were being transferred out of the country to evade taxes. While Vivo presented arguments in their defense and managed to recover access to the bank accounts, they were required to pay a guarantee of $119 million to the Indian government.
• In July 2022, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) stated that Oppo’s Indian subsidiary had improperly obtained tax-free benefits amounting to 29.81 billion rupees ($360 million) through false declarations of certain imported goods.

Context: According to market analyst firm Canalys, four Chinese phone brands entered the top five by market share in India in the second quarter of 2023, behind Korean brand Samsung. Vivo was second, shipping 6.4 million units, and Xiaomi held the third spot by shipping 5.4 million units, while Realme and Oppo (excluding its sub-brand OnePlus) ranked fourth and fifth by shipping 4.3 million and 3.7 million units respectively.

Oppo released the flip foldable phone Find N2 Flip globally in February as the brand’s first foray into the flip foldable smartphones. The device has been on sale in Europe and Asia since March, with a price of 849 euros ($978). The phone comes with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage and in two colors: purple and black. Our team received a black model for review and tried it out for a fortnight. 

The Find N2 Flip is the smaller flip foldable in Oppo’s first foldable release. The Find N2 is a bigger standard foldable that gives users twice the usual screen space. The Find N2 Flip is well-designed, likely to appeal to younger customers with lightweight design, large secondary display, and pocketable size. 

The key specs

Powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 9000+ processor, the Find N2 Flip offers a 6.8-inch AMOLED main screen and a 3.26-inch external screen. Flip phones tend to have small batteries due to their compact bodies and large hinges, but the Find N2 Flip managed to use a large battery of 4300mAh. In addition, the camera system includes a 50MP main camera with a Sony IMX890 sensor, 8MP ultra-wide camera, and a 32MP front camera.

Cute outer display and pocketable

The Find N2 Flip is surprisingly thin and light, weighing just 191g and measuring 7.45mm when folded. The device’s size when folded resembles a small makeup mirror – it’s delicate and compact and can be easily placed in a small bag or pocket. When handled in the palm of the hand, the Find N2 flip delivers a smooth and natural feel. 

With 3.26 inches, the Find N2 Flip’s external screen is the largest of any flip smartphone currently available. Despite the device’s lightweight and pocketable size, its external screen is big enough to showcase meaningful information and also allows users to check notifications, play music, answer calls, and take photos, so there’s no need to flip open the phone constantly. The Find N2 Flip offers six widgets for its cover screen, including weather, timer, audio recorder, camera, calendar, and earbud controls. Though the cover screen functions are currently limited, Oppo has repeatedly promised that it will expand the selection over time. 

Once opened up, the device feels a bit less convenient, the phone seems a little long and isn’t as easily swipe-able, especially after easy access on the external screen. The size of Find N2 Flip after unfolding is 166.2mm x 75.2mm x 7.45mm, while the 6.8-inch AMOLED inner screen has a ratio of 21:9. 

Adding to its cuteness factor and a clear attraction for younger users, the Find N2 Flip comes with five exclusive cartoon pet wallpapers. Users can choose different animals to display on the external screen, with cartoon pets displaying different animated states based upon how the device is being used. For example, when listening to a song, the pets on the wallpaper will “listen along.” Users can also click on the screen to “interact” with the pets.

Oppo uses a new Flexion Hinge, which ensures better resistance to dust, leaves little gap when closing the device and makes the fold barely visible. Although we admittedly only used the device for two weeks, we could hardly see the crease of the inner screen from the front and could only view a faint hint from the side under bright lighting. According to the company, even after 216,000 folds and unfolds, lab tests found that the crease remains almost imperceptible from most angles.

Durable battery and standard performance

When it comes to smartphone design, less space usually means less room for other components, like batteries. The improved, miniaturized hinge in Find N2 Flip made room for a high-capacity, fast-charging battery. To improve battery performance further, Oppo also worked closely with MediaTek to create an optimized version of the Dimensity 9000+ chip. In addition to the large battery capacity of 4300mAh, 44W SUPERVOOC fast charging allows users to go from nearly empty to 50 percent in just 23 minutes, and to 100 percent within one hour. Under normal usage conditions with screen time of between four and five hours, we were easily able to make the batter last for a day and a half or even two days. However, the device does not support wireless charging. 

The phone handles multitasking with ease and glides through multiple apps without a stutter. It’s unfortunate that the Find N2 flip is only available in a single memory and storage configuration of 8GB RAM/256GB internationally. In the Chinese market, the phone options are more diversified with 12GB RAM or 16GB RAM and 512GB of storage.

Photo friendly

The Oppo Find N2 Flip is equipped with a 50MP main camera with a Sony IMX890 sensor, an 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens, and a 32MP front camera. The 50MP main camera performs well in the day, offering detailed, crisp, and natural-colored imagery. Oppo’s self-developed MariSilicon X imaging system introduces better night shooting capabilities. 

Here are some examples of the device’s daylight and nighttime photography capabilities from our trial: 

The Find N2 Flip’s foldability also expands its photography features. With the cameras still operable when the device is partially folded, the phone can be placed on a surface for stable photography or video recording without the use of a tripod. It can also be used as a sort of camcorder when opened up to 90º, making for a more stable filming experience compared to the standard smartphone.

Conclusion

Although the Find N2 Flip is Oppo’s first flip foldable phone, it provides a mature product experience. The elegant design, compact body, weight, strong camera performance, and large battery all make Find N2 Flip an impressive option in the foldable phone category. 

Pros

• Large external screen
• Unnoticeable crease
• Decent 50MP main camera
• Large battery capacity for a flip phone

Cons

• Limited functions on the external screen
• No wireless charging
• No water resistance

Oppo released two flagship phones, the Find X6 and the Find X6 Pro, at its new product launch event on Tuesday afternoon. The Find X6 series features a triple camera design, with a wide angle lens with large 1-inch sensor, a periscope telephoto lens, and an ultra wide angle lens, as Oppo looks to dramatically upgrade its products’ imaging capabilities. 

Why it matters: In the past two years, rivals Vivo and Xiaomi have made significant progress in imaging, with the latter working with Leica for example, while Oppo’s camera systems have been seen as lagging behind as the company prioritized aesthetics. The new Find X6 phones, which are being positioned as high-end flagship models, are an attempt to regain the ground lost.

Details: The new X6 series was launched in the mainland China market only on Tuesday with prices starting from RMB 4,499 ($652). Equipped with three main cameras and advanced optical technology, the Find X6 series brings what Oppo claimed is “unprecedented image quality to both photo and video shooting on all three cameras.” 

• With its 1-inch sensor, the Find X6 Pro’s wide camera has the largest photosensitive sensor area of any smartphone camera. Similarly, the phone’s ultra wide camera is larger than any wide-angle smartphone camera to date. The two cameras are joined by a periscope telephoto camera, which is designed to capture images in low-light environments. 
• In terms of performance, the Oppo Find X6 uses the Dimensity 9200 flagship chip, while the Pro is powered with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. Both models have LPDDR5X memory and USF 4.0 flash memory. In addition, the Find X6 series is equipped with Oppo’s self-developed MariSilicon X chip, which is tailor made to improve imaging quality.
• Compared with its predecessor the Find X5 Pro, the Find X6 series offers a very different approach to design. Crafted from glass and aluminum, the centerpiece rounded lens module gives the Find X6 series a sleek appearance. The Find X6 features a 6.74-inch OLED screen, with a resolution of 2,772 by 1,240 pixels and supporting a peak brightness of 1,450 nit. The Find X6 Pro features a 6.82-inch screen with a 120Hz refresh rate and a resolution of 3,168 by 1,440, supporting a peak brightness of 2,500 nit.
• In addition to its flagship phones, Oppo also launched wireless noise-canceling earbuds Enco Free3 and its Oppo Pad2 at the event.

Context: According to market analysis platform StatCounter, Oppo accounted for 5.53% of China’s mobile phone market in February 2023, with Vivo making up 8.15% and Xiaomi 7.14%. 

• Oppo’s two main domestic rivals have both focused on imaging technology in recent years. In December 2022, Xiaomi launched its flagship Xiaomi 13 series phones with Leica optics.
• Vivo launched its flagship series the X90 for the global market last month, partnering with optical giant Zeiss to develop its camera sensors and lenses.

OnePlus, a Chinese phone brand owned by Oppo, revealed its new Ace 2V at a product launch on Tuesday, highlighting its high performance stats and low price tag as it looks to accrue market share in a segment long dominated by Xiaomi.

Why it matters: The Ace 2V provides a new threat to Xiaomi’s Redmi series when it comes to price sensitive consumers, a field where the latter has traditionally excelled. The basic Redmi K60 model is priced at RMB 2,999; the standard Ace 2V undercuts it by RMB 700. 

• Lu Weibing, Xiaomi’s president, announced a price cut for the Redmi K60 series on his Weibo account on Feb. 7, the same day that the OnePlus Ace 2V was revealed. A week later, president of OnePlus China Li Jie posted on his Weibo account, “Don’t give in to mediocrity, this is a victory for effort,” and “We won’t sacrifice specs and user experience to profit” (our translations).

Details: The Ace 2V phone began pre-sales on Mar. 7, though is currently only available in China. According to OnePlus, it will be renamed OnePlus Nord 3 in overseas markets, but its global release date is as yet unknown.

• OnePlus has priced its three Ace 2V models (12GB RAM + 256GB, 16GB RAM + 256GB and 16GB RAM + 512GB) at RMB 2,299, RMB 2,499 and RMB 2,799 respectively.
• The OnePlus Ace 2V offers a Dimensity 9000 chip, 12/16 GB of RAM and 256/512 GB of UFS 3.1 storage. At a press conference demonstration, the OnePlus Ace 2V achieved a score of 1.05 million on the AnTuTu software benchmarking system, the highest of any Dimensity 9000 phone to date. The company says that such specs will ensure a smooth gaming experience.
• The phone features support for 5G, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC, and several navigation systems. It includes an infrared port and 80W fast charging port, with a battery capacity of 5,000 mAh. It also offers a 6.74-inch OLED display with 2,772 x 1,240 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate and comes with a three camera system featuring a 64 megapixel main camera, 8 megapixel ultra-wide angle lens, and 2 megapixel macro lens.

Context: In December last year, major Chinese phone maker Oppo announced that it would be investing RMB 10 billion ($1.43 billion) over three years as part of a “dual primary” strategy aimed at enhancing and clarifying OnePlus’ status. The two firms merged in 2021. 

• According to data from technology market research firm Counterpoint, Oppo was the third highest selling smartphone brand in China in the fourth quarter of 2022, taking 16% of the market and ranking behind Apple and Vivo. Oppo’s sales figures include those for OnePlus. Xiaomi’s market share was 12% for the same period. 
• In December, it was reported that Xiaomi was undertaking large-scale layoffs after a persistent decline in its phone sales over the course of 2022.

Major Chinese consumer electronics brands have a strong presence at this year’s Mobile World Congress 2023 (MWC 2023) in Barcelona, as China reopens after three years of Covid-19 related restrictions.

The industry event brings together the world’s leading telecom operators and equipment manufacturers to showcase their latest products and technologies, including 6G, WiFi-7, satellite communication, and brand new consumer electronics devices. This year’s conference is expected to attract 80,000 attendees over the course of its four days, with more than 2,000 exhibitors from around the world, according to MWC.

Chinese gadget makers Honor, Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo, and ZTE all showcased new products at the conference. Here’s a rundown of what they had to offer. 

1. HONOR

Honor launched its Magic Vs Foldable to the global market at the event. The foldable phone was first released in China three months ago. The Magic Vs Foldable is powered by a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip, Android 13 Magic UI 7.1 system, and a 5000mAh battery and comes with 66W fast charging and dual symmetrical speakers. It supports a 1920Hz PWM high-frequency eye protection mode and has a 6.45-inch 120Hz external screen with up to 1200nit brightness, as well as a 7.9-inch 90Hz 800nit interior screen with 2K HD resolution. Its cameras include a rear 54-megapixel main camera, a 50-megapixel ultra-wide angle lens, and 3x optical zoom lens. The phone was launched with a price tag of 1,599 euros (RMB 11,753) for 12GB+512GB storage, and comes in two color options: cyan and black.

2. HUAWEI

Huawei released the industry’s first commercial 50G PON (Passive Optical Network) at this year’s MWC, which can process signals without power supply. The nodes within the PON are composed of delicate and compact optical fiber components. The Chinese telecom giant says that the 50G PON can meet the increasing bandwidth requirements of offices, campuses, industrial sites, enterprises, and households.

Huawei also released their FTTR F30 (Fiber to the Room), which it claims is the industry’s first all-optical home networking product based on C-WAN architecture. C-WAN stands for Classified Wide Area Network, which features five major updates:

• A design upgrade with four colors and three installation modes.
• A speed improvement with hardware acceleration and 2000Mbps for the whole house.
• A coverage upgrade with multi-beam smart antenna coverage increased by about 30%.
• Improved roaming with unique SRCN (Seamless Roaming Coordinated Network) for senseless roaming.
• A concurrency upgrade with multi-terminal collaboration technology, which allows a maximum of 128 devices to be connected simultaneously.
  

3. Xiaomi

Xiaomi displayed its new wireless AR glasses at the conference. The glasses feature two Micro-OLED screens supporting 1,200 nits of brightness and full HD FHD visuals. Three forward-facing cameras map the surroundings directly in front of the wearer. The AR glasses are lightweight, made of carbon fiber and magnesium alloy, and run on Xiaomi’s self-developed silicon-oxygen anode battery, which weighs less than conventional lithium-ion. 

The glasses are powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Gen 1 chip and have no storage, so they must be connected to a device. The advertised latency is only 50ms. According to testers from the Chinese gadget review site ITHome, after 20 minutes of video watching, the latency is indeed very low with barely any lag and no degradation in picture quality.

In addition, Xiaomi also unveiled the BE7000, a high-performance WiFi 7 router. Equipped with Qualcomm Networking Pro 820, the quad-core A73 1.5GHz processor delivers 28,800 DMIPS of computing power, outperforming most flagship WiFi 6 routers on the market. It also comes with four 2.5G ports and one USB 3.0.

4. Oppo

Oppo brought its Find N2 series to MWC, as well as the self-developed Mariana MariSilicon Y chip, smart glasses Air Glass 2, home health detector OHealth H1, and its 45W liquid cooled radiator.

In addition, Oppo also showcased its first router product, the Wi-Fi 6 Router AX5400. The router uses Qualcomm’s 216 immersive home networking platform to support Wi-Fi 6 AX5400 standard and dual bands of 2.4GHz and 5GHz. Its high-gain antenna, combined with Oppo’s own anti-jamming algorithm and network directional acceleration technology, can boost Wi-Fi signal coverage and make connections more stable, the company says.

The Find N2 Flip series overseas version was initially launched in London on Feb. 28, at a starting price of 899 euros. But Oppo ensured it got plenty of attention at MWC as well by bringing in retired footballers Michael Owen and Luis Garcia to announce that the Oppo Find N2 Flip is now the official UEFA Champions League phone.

5. ZTE

ZTE launched the nubia Pad 3D tablet, in collaboration with Leia Inc., a company that develops naked-eye 3D technology. The Chinese firm says the tablet can support rich 3D application scenarios such as AI face tracking, real-time perspective matching, and real-time AI content processing, transforming 2D into 3D, thanks to Leia’s original 3D light field display technology and powerful AI computing engine.

It has a large 12.4-inch 2.5K screen and four panoramic speakers from Dolby. With a rich 3D content ecosystem, ZTE says that the nubia Pad 3D allows users to enjoy the industry’s first 3D enhanced video chat, private 3D cinema, and immersive 3D games. The tablet is powered by a Snapdragon 888 chip and a 9070mAh battery, and features a 33W quick-charge combination.

Major Chinese phone maker Oppo will treat Oppo and OnePlus as “dual-primary” brands, it was announced at an event to mark the 9th anniversary of OnePlus on Dec. 17. Oppo will invest RMB 10 billion ($1.43 billion) in OnePlus in the next three years as part of the new strategy, according to Liu Zuohu (Pete Lau), founder of OnePlus and chief product officer of Oppo.

Why it matters: Since the two firms merged in 2021, OnePlus’ positioning has become somewhat unclear – it offers a less premium experience compared to Oppo and has lost some of its unique features. The new strategy and investment seem intended as a strong push to make OnePlus stand out again.

Details: In addition to the $1.43 billion investment, Oppo will also share more resources in terms of technology, retail channels, and after-sales services with OnePlus.

• The Oppo Research Institute Innovation Accelerator and Oppo’s research and development department will offer more cutting-edge technology to OnePlus as part of the new strategy.
• Oppo will also put OnePlus devices on shelves at its 5,000-plus offline retail outlets in China.
• The two brands will also share more than 1,000 offline after-sales networks.
• According to Liu’s comments, Oppo will become a “global tech brand”, with its two series Find and Reno focusing on imaging systems and design respectively.
• OnePlus will focus on performance and selling through online channels, Liu added.

Context: Liu founded OnePlus in 2013 after working at Oppo for 15 years. The two companies belong to BBK Electronics, with OnePlus manufacturing their phones in Oppo’s factories.  

• Liu returned to Oppo as chief product officer of the brand in 2020, a role he assumed in addition to his duties at OnePlus.
• Including OnePlus sales, Oppo is the fourth-largest phone vendor worldwide, accounting for 10% of the global market in the third quarter of 2022, according to hardware consultancy Canalys.

Chinese phone maker Oppo launched two new foldable phones – Find N2 and Find N2 Flip – for the Chinese market at a release event on Thursday. Available in three colors, the Find N2 has a price range of RMB 7,999 – RMB 8,999 ($1,147 – $1,290). The Find N2 Flip also comes in three colors and is priced from RMB 5,999 to RMB 6,999 ($860 – $1,004). The two models will initially be available only in China, with shipping starting on Dec. 23 for Find N2 and Dec. 30 for Find N2 Flip. Oppo confirmed to TechNode that the latter model would be introduced to overseas markets soon.

Why it matters: Oppo released its first foldable phone, Find N, last year, giving the brand a 4.6% market share (in Chinese) in the Chinese foldable market in the third quarter of 2022. This year, the firm focused on slimming down the weight of its next iteration. The new tablet-like Find N2 is even lighter than some regular phones, such as the iPhone 14 Pro Max.

• This is the first time Oppo has introduced a flip-style foldable phone, as the company looks to compete with Huawei and Samsung.

Find N2: The Oppo Find N2 uses Qualcomm’s high-end processor Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, which was introduced earlier this year but has now been superseded by the Gen 2.

• The phone weighs 237 grams in green and white and is even lighter in black (233 grams), which is considerably less weighty than rivals’ offerings. Its thickness is 7.4 mm when opened and 14.6 mm when folded.
• The 7.1-inch inner display supports a 120 Hz refresh rate and LTPO adaptive refresh rate. The brightness can reach 1,200 nits in HDR scenes and 1,550 nits outdoors. The external display is 5.54 inches with a 120 Hz refresh rate and 1,350-nit peak brightness outdoors.
• The Oppo Find N2 is equipped with a triple-camera system, covering frames from 47 mm to 14 mm. Its main camera comes with a 500 million pixel resolution and an F1.8 aperture.
• Oppo offers LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 storage chips in this phone, with two available options: 12 GB RAM plus 256 GB storage and 16 GB RAM plus 512 GB storage.
• The phone features a 4,520 mAh battery, supporting a 67 W charging speed.

Find N2 Flip: Oppo’s first flip-style foldable phone has a 3.26-inch rounded rectangular screen that the firm claims is the largest external screen of any phone in its class.

• The main 6.8-inch display supports a 120 Hz refresh rate and 1,600 regional peak brightness.
• The phone adopts an old 4nm Dimensity 9000+ processor from MediaTek and comes with a 4,300 mAh battery, supporting 44 W charging speed.
• Powered by its in-house imaging processing chip MariSilicon X, the Find N2 Flip has a 50 million pixel (MP) main camera, 8MP teleport camera, and 32MP front camera.

Context: The foldable phone market has seen strong growth both in China and overseas in the last year. Counterpoint Research projected that global foldable phone shipments will increase 77.8% yearly to 16 million units in 2022, and hit 26 million in 2023.

• Samsung dominates the global foldable market, accounting for 62% of worldwide sales. Oppo took only 3% of the market by sale-through in the first half of 2022, ranking third behind Huawei, according to Counterpoint Research. 
• Huawei topped the Chinese foldable market with a 53.2% share of sales in the third quarter of 2022, according to Chinese hardware consultancy CINNO Research.

Chinese phone maker Oppo on Wednesday released its first smart health device, called OHealth H1. A small oval-shaped device that can take six key health measurements, OHealth H1 is targeted at family healthcare scenarios and daily monitoring use.

Why it matters: Oppo has been expanding its investment in digital health devices in recent years, hoping to diversify its offering and “use technological innovation to meet evolving healthcare needs,” according to a spokesperson. 

• Earlier this year, Oppo launched an accelerator to provide funding to innovative health tech projects around the world.  
• The firm set up Oppo Health Lab, a health research and development facility, in 2021, focusing on foundational technologies like algorithms and sensors.

Details: The OHealth H1 features six health data monitoring functions: blood oxygen, electrocardiogram, heart and lung auscultation, heart rate, body temperature, and sleep tracking.

• The device has a rounded oval-shaped design, weighing only 95 grams. It aims to help users to form a habit of monitoring their health metrics on a daily basis, without needing to wake up the device or pair it with phones.
• The OHealth H1 is equipped with a larger sensor on the side of the device, making it more sensitive than other daily health devices like smartwatches. It is designed to detect potential heart conditions such as irregular or rapid heart rhythms with the help of algorithms.
• The device’s sleep tracking feature can work without contact. The device can detect subtle mattress vibrations while users are sleeping within 20 cm (7.87 inches) of their pillows. 
• Oppo also offers an accompanying app called OHealth to help users to track their health data. The app features AI-assisted diagnosis and telemedicine features that allow users to have their data reviewed by qualified doctors for a professional diagnosis.
• Oppo says that all collected data is stored locally by default and that uploaded data will be encrypted with authorization from users.
• Oppo has yet to reveal the pricing of the device or when it will be released to the public, but a spokesperson told TechNode that it was already in production and will initially be available only in China, with an international launch still being planned. The spokesperson added that Oppo is still “refining the product to meet the requirements of local medical regulations and other relevant laws.”

Chinese phone maker Oppo released its new generation of smartwatches, the Watch 3 series, in August with a price tag of RMB 1,599 – RMB 2,099 ($228 – $300). The company first entered the watch market in 2020 and updated it annually.  

The latest series has a new look and offer more premium features such as long battery life, and always-on feature supported by LTPO OLED display. 

The version we tested, the Watch 3 Pro, is currently only available in mainland China and Oppo has yet to reveal any plans regarding overseas markets, but there is an expectation that it will eventually be sold internationally. 

A refreshed design

The first thing that impressed us about Oppo’s new Watch 3 Pro is the massive 48.5 mm curved display. It offers more space to display content than most of its Android rivals. Apple’s newly released Apple Watch Ultra comes with a 49 mm display but is more than doubled the price of Oppo’s offering.

The larger display enables the watch to showcase more information and users can track more metrics at the same time. An innovative change is the watch’s curved display, which fits better with one’s wrist and offers a clearer view when checking the watch from different angles. 

Another good touch of the watch is the mechanical rotating crown on the side. It offers another tangible way to interact with the watch, considering slides on the touch screen may sometimes block the display of other content. The crown also stimulates realistic mechanical vibration feedback when spinning.

Improvable on-wrist experience

The watch’s large size leads to a heavier weight of 37.5 g (without bands), – a thing to adjust for those who are used to a more lightweight watch. 

The black model we reviewed came with a classic-looking black rubber strap. The band is fastened through steps rather than being completely adjustable, which leaves it open to the possibility of being either too loose or too tight if your wrist doesn’t match up with the fixed steps. 

The rubber material is waterproof (potentially making it a good companion for swimmers) and is also easy to clean. But for all-day use, we would recommend getting a nylon or Milanese strap, which fits more wrist sizes and has better breathability. If you want a more stylish look, the silver version with a leather strap could also be a better choice.

Solid core experience

The system interface has a decent design, with good readability and accessibility. The font size and weight are well chosen, while essential information is marked with vivid colors. The transitional animation is quick and clean. 

With a swipe of the home screen, the watch can access all essential secondary interfaces, like essential health metrics, widgets, quick setting toggles, and notifications, similar to a phone’s swipe-up feature.

The watch we reviewed was installed with ColorOS, and given its marketing to the Chinese market, it did not support Google Play or any other WearOS features. It provided over 80 apps through the built-in app store, covering the most common Chinese apps such as WeChat and Alipay. This means that if you enable the e-SIM feature, you can leave your phone at home and have access to the most essential software.

And just like other smartwatches, you can receive notifications and calls, monitor sleep stages, and conduct a quick electrocardiogram (ECG) test. However, the ECG app, for now, says “coming soon.”

A good workout companion 

When doing intense workouts, the weight of the watch and its slightly rigid watch band take some getting used to. 

Despite that, the Watch 3 Pro has the potential to be a great exercise companion tool. Oppo sets four goals for users to hit, displaying these as four loops: steps, calories, workout, and activity. We found it a little harder to achieve the default goals, but one can adjust them to meet your needs.

The device can auto-detect six kinds of workout, including running, walking, cycling, swimming, elliptical machine work, and rowing machine activity. We tested walking and cycling and it had no problem detecting the former, but somehow missed the latter so we had to manually record the workout from the health app instead.

When it comes to manually recording, the watch offers dozens of types of workouts to choose from, with some featuring detailed subcategories. Dance, for example, has ten different styles, including waltz, street, and jazz. While this enables fitness enthusiasts to track their niche interests, it can feel daunting to new dancers. It also lacks a more general choice to record less common or freestyle workouts.

The recorded workout generally offers information about GPS mapping, duration, burnt calories, heart rate, etc. It even highlights different heart rate zones, helping users understand how close to their maximum heart rate a certain activity is getting them; for example, zone one is “warmup” and zone two is “fat burn.” 

Long battery life

The Oppo Watch 3 Pro’s battery life is impressive. Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 processor provides higher performance and halves the amount of power consumption compared with the last generation. It has a large 550 mAh battery, even bigger than Apple Watch Ultra’s battery volume, according to iFixit.

We turned almost all features on, including the always-on-display, all-day heart rate and blood oxygen monitoring, and workout auto-detect, to drain its power as soon as possible. We also paired it with a phone that was installed with dozens of news and social media apps, sending a plethora of notifications to ensure that the watch display has a longer illuminated period. Despite all this, the watch managed to last three days without charging. For regular usage, the battery should last a few more days.

With its charging stand, the watch can be fully charged in around an hour. 

What surprised us is that Oppo adopted a universal design for its charging stand: you can plug in any USB Type-C cable and supported charger to power it. Helping travelers to carry one less cable. 

Another neat feature is that the stand uses magnets to connect with the watch, charging through contactors. Compared with wireless charging, it can reduce overheating issues, but the contact points could also age from oxidation and corrosion.

Conclusion

The Oppo Watch 3 Pro has a classic design, a large display, long battery life, and a solid core experience. There is room for improvement, such as a more comfortable strap and weight reduction, but overall it is a reasonably priced high-end Android smartwatch. 

The upcoming overseas version should come with the full suite of Google offerings. We would recommend this watch to Android users with a larger wrist size, especially those who own an Oppo phone and can therefore unlock features across devices. For Apple users, it can still provide core smartwatch features and comes with a cheaper price tag than an Apple Watch. 

Here is our summary:

Pros:

• Long three-day battery life with all features on
• Large display
• Classic design
• Solid core experience and health monitoring
• Separate charging stand
• A competitive price tag

Cons:

• Less comfortable on the wrist with the default rubber band
• Auto workout detection and data monitoring are less reliable on occasion

Major Chinese phone vendor Oppo released ColorOS 13 in China, an operating system for phones made by Oppo and its sister brands OnePlus and Realme, at the 2022 Oppo Developer Conference (ODC) on Tuesday, following the announcement of the overseas version on August 18.

ColorOS 13 is based on Android 13, an open-source project led by Google. It inherits the original Android security pitches and bottom optimization but also introduces special features and localization through partnering with local firms. One particularly notable feature – Pantanal – allows for better collaboration between devices by offering a closer connection and reallocating resources.

Here are the key updates worth checking out.

Newly designed UI

A major update – with version numbers increasing in integers comparable to iOS 15 to 16 – generally means a fresh look in the new system’s user interface (UI). In the past year, Apple and Google haven’t introduced any major UI redesigns for Android 13 and iOS 16, so Oppo’s visual update makes it stand out among its rivals.

ColorOS 13 introduces a new UI design style called “Aquamorphic Design.” The update is inspired by the concept of water, aiming to create “a fluid, vibrant, and inclusive UI” from animation to component design. The colors and patterns are also based on the changing light between sunrise and sunset by the sea.

The new system has a card-style composition for increased accessibility, which looks cleaner and more friendly to use. Also contributing to the fresh feel, Oppo has launched a new font with a wider face that is easier to read. The new OS also introduces adaptive layouts optimized for devices in different size and statuses such as foldable phones and tablets.

New tech to optimize system fluency

Android’s background app running strategies left it a historical issue of how to allocate resources, including CPU time and RAM. Oppo is trying to further optimize system fluency by scheduling computing and RAM resources, prioritizing important tasks, and limiting greedy apps from running in the background via its algorithms to achieve a better balance between performance and power consumption.

It does this through its “Dynamic Computing Engine,” a system-level piece of technology formed from four computing engines that can increase battery life by 4.7% and performance by 10%, according to Oppo’s announcements at the event. The OS also aims to maintain more apps running in the background so that users can switch between them without a reboot or long wait.

Better connection among devices

As part of the new ColorOS, Oppo also revealed Pantanal, a cross-platform system which explores how to break the boundary between devices for better collaboration. The system can keep users in the loop of schedules on other devices via information from multiple devices such as enhanced Google Glance and Siri Advice. For example, it can remind users of a booked flight or the status of a coming taxi on multiple devices. Oppo has partnered with notable Chinese firms such as Li Auto, Tencent, Alipay, and Xiaohongshu for easier cross-device collaboration with Pantanal.

What really distinguishes Pantanal, however, is that the platform can not only handle data and information, but can also allocate computation and algorithm resources from multiple devices, including vehicles, phones, and tablets, to handle tasks like video creation.

It also extends connectivity to vehicles, offering more immersive in-car experiences such as using multiple car cameras to start video phone calls or running phone apps through the central vehicle console. Oppo has announced a partnership with Chinese automaker SAIC Motor as part of its moves into vehicle connectivity.

Privacy and other notable features

For privacy and safety, ColorOS 13 comes with a feature that can erase sensitive information on a screenshot from chat apps like ‎WhatsApp and Messenger. It also has a function to prevent unsafe apps from running, like Google Play Protection, using algorithms assisted by real humans.

ColorOS also includes an animation emoji feature called Omoji, similar to Apple’s Memoji, with a style that echoes the new UI. Users can create their own avatars, which can then be used to present or livestream in certain apps.

The update also features a new Meeting Assistant function for online meetings. The assistant can prioritize wireless data packages to provide a more stable connection, and enables users to capture text from the screen to make notes. It can also convert forms from the screen to common files like Excel sheets or PPT slides.

ColorOS 13 is now accessible via a beta program and will officially roll out to over 40 models this year, including OnePlus phones in China.

The new OS is one of the major phone operating systems in China, competing with Xiaomi’s MiUI and Huawei’s Harmony OS. The system sees major updates every year that typically follow Google’s original Android version for its Pixel phones. According to Oppo, the system has reached 500 million monthly active users globally.

On Wednesday, the Indian government accused Chinese smartphone maker Oppo of evading 43.9 billion rupees ($550 million) in import taxes.

Why it matters: The incident is the latest development in the Indian government’s investigations into Chinese tech firms with operations in the country, including Xiaomi and Vivo, which all faced tax scrutiny from the local authority earlier this year.   

• This is another setback to Oppo’s international business, as the firm is also caught up in multiple lawsuits with Nokia for 4G and 5G patents and facing a sales ban in Germany.

Details: India’s anti-smuggling agency, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), has launched an investigation, searching and questioning members of Oppo’s local offices, according to a press release from the Indian Finance Ministry on Wednesday.

• The investigation found evidence suggesting “wilful mis-declaration” in certain items imported by Oppo India for use in mobile phone manufacturing.
• The press release also said that Oppo didn’t include patent licensing fees totaling 14.1 billion rupees that were paid to overseas companies when calculating the value of goods imported, a violation of the country’s Customs Act and Customs Valuation Rules.
• The country’s Finance Ministry issued a notice to Oppo, informing the company that it must pay customs duty amounting to 43.9 billion rupees.
• An Oppo India spokesperson told TechCrunch that the company has a “different view on the changes mentioned in the SCN (show cause notice).” Oppo is reviewing the notice and will reply to present the firm’s side, according to the spokesperson. 
• Senior officials at Oppo India have already issued statements acknowledging errors and have voluntarily paid 4.5 billion rupees “as partial differential customs duty,” according to a report by Bloomberg.
• Oppo did not respond to TechNode’s inquiry for comment.

Context: In late May, India started probing the local units of two notable Chinese phone makers, ZTE and Vivo, for alleged financial improprieties, according to Bloomberg.

• India also demanded Xiaomi, another Chinese phone vendor that dominates the Indian smartphone market, pay about $88 million in import taxes in January.
• Chinese smartphone makers lead India’s market. Four out of five smartphone brands that ship most units in the country are Chinese brands: Xiaomi, Oppo’s sub-brand Realme, Vivo, and Oppo. The four brands took 63% of the Indian smartphone market in the first quarter of 2022, according to Counterpoint Research.

Oppo sister brand Realme launched a new high-spec phone, the Realme GT2 Master Explorer Edition, on Tuesday, at a relatively low price. 

Why it matters: Oppo’s Realme is known for making phones with high spec combinations at a low price, similar to Xiaomi’s sub-brand, Redmi. The GT2 features Qualcomm’s latest processor and new RAM technology.  

• Gaming features in this phone are also competitive among its rivals at the same price range, making it a good choice for gamers on tight budgets.

Details: Realme GT2 Master Explorer Edition is now the cheapest phone fitted with Qualcomm’s new processor, the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, a chip that higher-end Android phones tend to use. The phone sells 12.5% cheaper than three other phones that have used the chip, based on a calculation from TechNode.

• The phone has a 6.7-inch punch-hole display with a 120 Hz refresh rate, supporting on-screen fingerprint recognition. The display, however, has a lower definition than its rivals’ high-end models, a compromise made for cost control.
• One of the phone’s standout features is its adoption of the new LPDDR5X RAM with lower battery consumption, which helps reduce power consumption by 20% more than the previous generation of Realme phones, according to Realme’s Weibo post.
• In gaming features, Realme has adopted imaging chips from US-based firm Pixelworks, which generate extra frames for a smoother performance. This tech also helps offload GPU workload to reduce overall power consumption, which prevents overheating and helps to extend gameplay time on mobile devices.
• The phone also comes with a simulated arm trigger feature with pressure sensors for gameplay which, according to Realme, makes it the first company to use this function worldwide.
• The phone has three back cameras and 100W charge for a 5,000 mAh battery.
• Available in three colors, the phone will be available on July 19, pricing from RMB 3,499 ($520) for 8 GB RAM and 128 GB storage to RMB 3,999 ($595) for 12 GB RAM and 256 GB storage.

Context: Top Chinese phone brands Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo, have all established sub-brands like Redmi and Realme, and iQOO to better serve targeted groups that are more price sensitive. 

• These subbrands allowed the main brands to raise prices. For example, the price of Xiaomi phones has grown by around 30% since 2018.
• In the first quarter, Oppo took 22% of the market shares in China’s budget smartphones priced between RMB 3,000 to RMB 3,999 and 27% in phones priced between RMB 1,000 to RMB 2,999, ranking the third according to CINNO Research, a Chinese hardware insight firm.

Imagine a future scenario where patients don’t have to travel long distances or spend too much time talking to their doctors face-to-face, and where doctors can easily access their patients’ daily health data remotely, allowing patients, doctors, health plans and managers to remain seamlessly connected. 

Now, consumer electronics makers and scientists are seeing new possibilities for utilizing these tools — smartphones, apps, smartwatches — to help people live healthier lives though digital health treatment and detect problems early on. 

The growing trend of consumer digital health devices has contributed to the ongoing expansion of the digital health industry. The global digital health market recorded $145.57 billion in 2021, growing at a 16.9% compound annual growth rate from 2022 to 2028, according to US market research firm Vantage Market Research. 

The booming industry empowered more consumers to use health tools to monitor their own health. The health devices go beyond just tracking one’s walking steps, monitoring heart rates and calorie burns during a workout, or counting one’s sleeping hours. The tools can bring in a lot more in the future, potentially helping more people access quality healthcare and prevent costly surgeries and treatment by diagnosing cardiovascular diseases, cancer, or other diseases early on. “Digital health is a cultural transformation that creates a new status quo, where the relationship between a doctor and a patient becomes an equal-level partnership,” said Dr. Bertalan Mesko, Director of The Medical Futurist Institute during an interview.

Dr. Timothy Weadon, Director of Hardware Engineering for Health from OPPO explained such trends to TechNode, saying, “One key aspect of change over the next five years will be bringing in clinically validated metrics and bridging the gap between some of the consumer device industry and some of the real medical industry.”

Weadon also believes that in the future, the telemedicine industry can be well promoted by consumer device companies with its high connectivity between the health data and digital health devices, and those devices will come in all forms, not just wearables. “I think that we’re going to start seeing more contactless care where you can have various monitors that follow your health metrics and quantify with you while having minimal interaction,” he added. 

New startups to revolutionize digital health 

From May to August, OPPO Research Institute Innovation Accelerator calls for innovative proposals from around the world, running regional demo events in Israel and India to find the most promising health companies to work with. In its innovative program, OPPO has selected ten startup teams for the regional roadshow in Tel Aviv, Israel. The candidates’ research areas also reflect the trend of digital health. OPPO saw two companies bringing innovative ideas to personal healthcare through smart wearable devices and the ability to integrate data analytics: Facense and Docdok Health.

Launched in 2015, Facense is an Israeli company that develops smart glasses with head-mounted sensors for continuous signal measurement to monitor metrics like head movement, steps, skin temperature, and blood pressure for applications in diverse health and wellness. For instance, according to the firm’s roadshow slide, its smart glasses can detect potential Covid symptoms based on those sensors.

Docdok Health is a company that provides CE-certified software as a medical device app that delivers data-driven personalized healthcare. The firm has a three-step concept: connecting healthcare providers with their patients as a basis for personalized healthcare, compiling meaningful patient data and running smart analytics to grasp patients’ full picture, and applying the gained insights to improve patient outcomes.

Among the winning teams at the Israel roadshow, OPPO saw a more practical-focused firm, Social Mind, which provides AI and evidence-based interventions for parents with autistic children, transforming autism care with high quality and wide-reaching.

“Digital Health is new and emerging. It needs community effort and engagement with other startups as well as health institutions.” In addition to innovative ideas, Weadon said he’s also looking for teams that bring creative ideas with a passion. “I think a good team is not only a team that works hard or has a good direction, but they need to have passion and motivation. I think it’s really important that people work with passion to develop the next thing.”

Preventive healthcare, find problems early on

OPPO is a strong advocate for proactive and preventive healthcare. It launched OPPO Research Institute Innovation Accelerator in May and has included digital health as one of the topics of the project, and the other is accessible technology, aiming to push the digitalization in health care, making health care services more personalized.

The company plans to achieve its preventive health goals by applying holistic design concepts to its digital health devices. “As an engineer, I think about things as a system,” said Weadon, “the point of the design is to have an impact to really enable and empower our users to have a better life and also to be able to go and enjoy the activities that they have and help them with those devices.”

When it comes to smartwatches, OPPO believes it’s about having real, accurate, clinically meaningful information and creating a full loop experience for users, so they can take that information and make decisions that lead to healthier lifestyles. And the firm builds its devices works in an invisible and nonintrusive way, hoping the users would set their devices and forget them.

Chinese smartphone brands Oppo and Vivo have joined with education brand Okii to build a K-12 school in the southern Chinese city of Dongguan, where the brands have manufacturing facilities, according to an official announcement by ITHome on June 1. All three brands are owned by the parent company, BBK Electronics.

Why it matters: Okii is an edtech brand in China that makes study devices for kids. Leveraging BBK’s resources, the project shows the long-term ambition of the brands. 

Details: The school, called “Dongguan BBK Experimental School” (our translation), is approved by the Dongguan Education Bureau in Guangdong province. Oppo, Vivo, and Okii will begin enrolling students next September.

• The school focuses on K-12 education, covering kindergarten, primary, and middle school ages. It aims to accommodate 15 kindergarten classes, 60 primary school classes, and 30 junior high school classes.
• In preparation for its first academic year, the school plans to hire 99 teachers in two batches. The first batch will comprise around 30 jobs, with applications being taken from June this year. Teachers will be offered a yearly salary ranging from RMB 160,000 to RMB 600,000 ($24,037 to $90,139). The second batch of teaching posts will open to the public in September.
• The announcement also goes into detail about working benefits for teachers, including offering 56-square-meter apartments for teachers, as well as social insurance, holiday benefits, and year-end performance bonuses. The salary offering and the additional perks are higher than average school offerings. 
• The original announcement has since been removed from BBK Education’s official WeChat account. TechNode was unable to reach BBK Education on Monday. 

Context: Oppo and Vivo are following the footsteps of other large consumer electronics firms in building a community in their base cities. Samsung and Haier have done similar social projects.

• In South Korea, smartphone giant Samsung has a deep presence in the country’s social life, building hospitals, pharmaceuticals, apartment buildings, and other social projects. Last December, Haier, a Chinese appliance giant, launched a school in the eastern city of Qingdao with the aim of opening for students in 2022, Chinese media outlet Jiemian reported.
• Founded in 1998, BBK Electronics is one of China’s largest consumer electronics manufacturers. According to its official website, its business covers education, mobile tech, and home appliances.

OnePlus, the Chinese smartphone maker owned by Oppo, launched a new product line named Ace, targeting the global mobile gaming market. The company released the first model of the series on Thursday, pricing at RMB 2,499 ($384).

Why it matters: OnePlus is expanding its offering to the global mobile gaming market after launching OnePlus 9R last year.

• Chinese phone makers, like Xiaomi, have been known to use game performance metrics to sell their phones. OnePlus is vying to be a strong competitor in this vertical. 
• The mobile gaming market is rapidly expanding, and the global revenue of the sector will reach $116.1 billion in 2024, as estimated by global gaming insight firm Newzoo.

Details: On Tuesday, OnePlus revealed the new Ace product line for mobile gaming, alongside a new entrance level True Wireless Stereo (TWS) earbuds in a release event.

• The first model of Ace is powered by a customized processor designed by MediaTek. The 8100-MAX processor is said to be optimized for high-performance games and low-light videography. The new phone also features a 6.7-inch and 120 refresh rate screen supplied by a Chinese display maker BOE, and comes with a fingerprint scanner, which supports heart rate detection. OnePlus also announced an external cooler which they claim to improve overheating issues in mobile gaming.
• The names of the series, Ace, and the black and blue case color cater to OnePlus’ targeted users of mobile games. In many games, the term ace refers to a player who has defeated all enemies. The black and blue color versions of the phone also go by the names Kaihei and Huilan, which are gaming terms in popular games Dota.

Context: OnePlus merged with Oppo, another major smartphone brand in China, last year and is now an independent brand under the Oppo umbrella, focusing on overseas markets.

• In the premium smartphone market, where phones sell for over $400, OnePlus ranked fourth in North America in terms of sales in 2021. The brand is even more popular in India, where it is listed second among premium smartphones, behind Apple.
• On the brand’s eighth anniversary last year, Liu Zuohu, the founder of OnePlus and CPO of Oppo, announced that the company had shipped 10 million phones globally since it began operating in 2013.

If you can’t see the YouTube player above, try watching here instead. 

As Oppo doubles down on efforts to breaking into overseas markets with its latest offering, the Reno 10x Zoom, released last month. I’ve been using the device for a month now, and with its sleek design and a novel camera setup, it performs swimmingly.

With no known relation to the city in Nevada, this device is part of the Reno line. As its bizarre name suggests, the main draw of the Oppo Reno 10x Zoom is its cameras. With a triple camera lineup, the device is the first implementation of Oppo’s development of 10x hybrid zoom capability, which TechNode reported on in December last year.

The “10x Zoom” can be a little misleading—in fact, the camera only zooms up to five times using its telephoto lens. But the device supports a whopping 60x digital zoom. What’s even more confusing is the way the zoom presets were programed. Through the zoom button in the camera app, the camera jumps from 1x, to 2x, jumping to 6x and 10x, then to ultrawide.

Barring this quirk, the camera lineup is great—but it doesn’t blow its competition out of the water. Outdoors and indoors, the cameras seem to deliver images that tend look a little soft and videos still look a bit shaky. Although the beauty filters can be adjusted, the default setting seems to slightly over-touch photos.

The selfie camera is cleverly hidden in a “shark-fin” style pop-up at the top of the device, which was definitely amazing to see in action. Oppo claims that the mechanism is good for five years of “frequent use”, but we won’t know how true that is—that is, until we see it in the news.

When I was done marveling at the mechanism, we dove into the cameras themselves. The photos from the front camera were… not bad. The photos looked a little washed out, and the bokeh in Portrait mode was a little overzealous—even artificial at times. In some low light situations, however, the Oppo Reno 10x Zoom flounders. Fidelity of pictures taken with little light were lost significantly.

In video mode, the in-camera stabilization works, but not really well. Unlike other phones like the Huawei P30 Pro, the telephoto lens cannot be used to take videos.

As a firm believer of stock or near-stock Android experiences, slow and chunky Chinese-made UI skins do not float my boat. ColorOS 6, on top of Android 9.0, chokes ever so slightly occasionally when playing graphics-intensive games, but I can let that slide.

For anyone who’s used an Android phone, the device shouldn’t take long to get used to. With a clean interface and many customizable options, the software is certainly up to par.

The Oppo Reno 10x Zoom is a mid- to high-range device, and its hardware certainly suggests so. With a Snapdragon 855 and at least 6GB of memory, the device runs games and processes photos at a blazing speed.

The phone also sports a massive 4,056 mAh battery, comfortably allowing for a full-day moderate use (read: video-streaming and games before and after work). Using Oppo’s proprietary VOOC charging system, the massive battery can go from 0 to 70% in 30 minutes too.

The 6.6-inch AMOLED screen is extremely impressive as well, with a high resolution 2,340 x 1,080, producing eye-popping colors and deep blacks. Thanks to the front-facing camera mechanism, the screen is effectively bezel-less. The proximity sensor, ambient light sensor and fingerprint reader are embedded in the screen, achieving a 93.1% screen-to-body ratio. Together with the glass and metal finish, the device feels truly premium.

The Oppo Reno comes without an IP rating and wireless charging—things some might consider as “must-haves” for a premium smartphone in 2019. But make no mistake—the Oppo Reno 10x Zoom is a very good smartphone. Most of the remaining issues from the phone seem to be fixable with just a software update, and it’s up to Oppo to correct these issues.

With a solid camera lineup, one of the best smartphone chips, and the large notchless display, the thoughtful design of the Oppo Reno 10x Zoom makes a splash with its refreshing experience. I’ll certainly be looking forward to what Oppo has to offer in the future.

Chinese smartphone maker Oppo has formed an internet of a things-focused business group, a move that will raise its stakes in smart devices amid increased competition in the domestic smartphone market.

The newly formed Intelligent Mobile Devices group will spearhead the development of an Oppo sub-brand, dubbed Zhimei, which will initially encompass smartwatch and headset products, with a continuing focus on sport and health-related devices, the company said in a statement on Monday.

Oppo aims to take on smartphone makers Huawei and Xiaomi who have also been increasing their focus on smart devices. Xiaomi sold more than 132 million internet of things (IoT) devices in the last quarter of 2018—more than any other company in the world, according to market research company iResearch. Xiaomi plans to invest more than RMB 10 billion ($1.5 billion) over the next five years to increase its focus on artificial intelligence IoT.

“Several products branded Zhimei will be released in both online and offline stores this year,” an Oppo spokesperson told TechNode. The company said a number of other products have also been earmarked for development, including smart bracelets and power banks, though product categories could change.

Led by Liu Bo, Oppo’s vice president and former chief purchasing officer, the new group also aims to accelerate the company’s development of artificial intelligence and the internet of things (IoT), as well as the combination of the two. It will also establish an open platform connecting smart devices, content, and services.

Rival Huawei has also shown its resolve in increasing its presence in the smart device sector. In a year-end letter to employees, Huawei’s consumer business head Yu Chengdong said the company will combine 5G, AI, and the IoT into its smart ecosystem in an effort to “provide smart life experiences of all kinds to global consumers.”

China’s smartphone market is down 13% year-on-year amid its fourth consecutive quarter of year-on-year declines.

According to a report by market research firm Counterpoint Research, overall sales have not been optimistic, though Huawei and Honor saw double-digit growth compared to the same time last year. Chinese manufacturers filled the ranks the top five brands. The most popular was Vivo, taking nearly 20% of the market in the third quarter, followed by Oppo, Honor, Huawei, and Xiaomi, collectively making up 78% of the market.

Apple saw its year-on-year growth decline by 17% and made up just 7.7% of the market. The company saw sales decrease following the release of the iPhone XS and XS Max. Counterpoint says this was due to the price of the devices.

According to Counterpoint, the strong performance from Vivo, Huawei, and Honor are as a result of product innovation, which includes AI processors and the introduction of flagship-like features to cost-effective devices.

However, analysts believe this all may change in the fourth-quarter of 2018, which is seen as a time for promoting more expensive flagship devices during a host of shopping festivals. Sentiment is expected to shift from a price war to that of a battle between premium devices. As an example, Apple topped over smartphone makers regarding sales on Tmall during Double11. The company also commands 65% of the market for smartphones priced at more than $600.

Huawei, which overtook Apple in Q2 to become the world’s second largest smartphone manufacturer has begun focusing on the premium market. This is especially true in India, where the company plans to start manufacturing phones from 2020.

In April, smartphone shipments in China dropped to under 100 million for the first time since 2013. The decline was attributed to rampant imitation and intense competition, contrary to Counterpoint’s report, which associated strong performance in the top 5 brands with innovation.

Counterpoint Research released earlier today the latest report on global smartphone shipments.

The research shows a 3% annual decline regarding total global shipments. Counterpoint Research suggests that “this is the first time that the global smartphone market has declined for three consecutive quarters.”

Chinese manufacturer Huawei’s global shipments for the period hit 52 million, up 33% year-over-year, making the company the second largest one on the global shipment units list. Xiaomi, which just completed a 100 million global shipments goal for 2018 on October 26, recorded 35.7 million global shipments for the period, up 25% year-over-year.

Oppo and Vivo both report quarterly international shipments over 30 million, making the two and Xiaomi the wining Chinese manufacturers with their own “highest ever shipments in a single quarter”.

Lenovo, a Chinese brand well-known for PC technology, saw a 26% decline in shipment units, and a 25% decline in shipment market share.

Industry leader Samsung remained on top of the list in terms of shipment units (72.3 million) and shipment market share (19%), though both units and share declined year-over-year. Apple’s performance remains flat.

Another highlight of the report is top Chinese smartphone manufacturers’ declining reliance on domestic markets.

Xiaomi’s shipment growth domestically dropped 16%, whereas global shipment growth increased 83%. Xiaomi ranked 4th with a 9% global market share for the period on the global list, but was 38.1% behind Oppo and Vivo which both acquired 21% in-China shipment share on the domestic list.

As Huawei, Apple, and Xiaomi all released new models recently, a report on the 4th quarter and the whole 2018 year will be worth looking forward to.

China’s homegrown smartphone brands are continuing to overshadow their international peers on domestic turf. Huawei has topped domestic mobile phone sales for several consecutive quarters so there is not much news there. However, the new Jiguang report shows that OPPO has been steadily gaining popularity. The top five phones in China for Q1 2017 were Huawei, OPPO, iPhone, Vivo, and Xiaomi.

Huawei and OPPO have a market retention rate of 20.8% and 18.5% respectively, followed by iPhone with 18.2%. Vivo and Xiaomi took third and fourth place respectively. Huawei and OPPO have been rising in popularity for the past five quarters. Jiguang’s “Q1 2018 Smartphone Industry Research Report” (in Chinese) also shows that Xiaomi’s phones have been increasing their market share for three consecutive quarters ahead of their IPO.

Sales statistics show iPhone’s declining popularity. Huawei held more than a 25% of sales in Q1 2017 followed by Oppo and Vivo. Huawei has been increasing its sales steadily for the past five quarters. Data also showed that the iPhone users’ loyalty is currently at 63.4%, meaning that more than 60% of the users continued to use iPhone in Q1 of 2018.

The report demonstrated that geography still has an influence on what kind of phones you buy. Almost 50% of iPhone users come from China’s 1st-tier cities, while the bulk of OPPO and Vivo users are located in 3rd-tier cities and below. For Huawei and Xiaomi, the distribution of users is relatively equal.

The results are not surprising since OPPO and Vivo (OV) are following a similar pattern that led Xiaomi to its success: offering good quality phones for cheap to users with lower income. The OV tandem has also been heavily investing in cameras, but unlike Huawei which has moved towards high-end gear with a collaboration with Leica, OPPO and Vivo have been working on improving their selfie-taking magic.

Smartphone shipments in China dropped to 91 million units in the first quarter of 2018, representing the largest single quarter decline on record. This is the first time since the end of 2013 that shipments have fallen below 100 million units.

Technology market analysis firm Canalys said eight of the ten major smartphone manufacturers were hit with annual declines. The company said the record-breaking slump is due to rampant imitation resulting from intense competition in the market.

Smartphones manufacturers Gionee, Meizu, and Samsung were hit the hardest. All three vendors’ shipments fell to less than half of their respective Q1 2017 numbers.

Samsung was recently banned from selling a number of its handsets in China after a court ruled that it had infringed on Huawei patents. Even so, Huawei saw a 2% decline in shipments after overtaking Apple to become the world’s second-largest supplier of smartphones in September 2017. Oppo and Vivi also had a bad quarter, with both suppliers experiencing a 10% decline in shipments.

Xiaomi was the only manufacturer to defy the trend, growing its shipments by 37% to 12 million units. The company overtook Apple to become the country’s fourth-largest smartphone supplier.

“Xiaomi is the only vendor in the top-5 that is focused on the sub-RMB 1,000 (about $160) price segment and it owes close to 90% of its shipments to Redmi,” said research analyst Hattie He. The company is trying to shake its budget smartphone image and recently announced it would limit its net profit margins from its hardware sales to 5%.

The Chinese smartphone market is increasingly dominated by Huawei, Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi. All four companies saw their market shares increase, while other manufacturers, including Apple, lost footing.

Despite the decline, analysts expect the market to recover with the launch of flagship phones from Oppo, Vivi, and Huawei in the second quarter of 2018.

Updated: A previous version of this post stated that Xiaomi and OPPO smartphones may feature facial recognition technology as early as March or April 2019. The technology actually might be available in March or April 2018. 

Chinese smartphone maker OPPO has revealed that its high-end flagship smartphones are coming back. The flagship series has been silent for years and the comeback will be headed by Find 9.

What is interesting about the launch is that the new flagship may come with Super VOOC (Voltage Open Loop Multi-step Constant-Current Charging) flash technology, according to local media speculation (in Chinese). The Super VOOC is capable of recharging a 2,500 mAh battery in just 15 minutes. It can also charge a battery to about 45% in just 5 minutes. The charging technology was showcased during Mobile World Congress in February 2016 and after almost two years, it is believed that OPPO has improved the technology. If Find 9 can integrate Super VOOC it will no doubt spark attention.

Currently, Oppo’s VOOC charge is able to charge certain OPPO devices from 0 to 75% in just 30 minutes. OPPO started offering its VOOC Flash Charge 1.0 technology in 2015 with its Find 7 smartphone.

The Find 9 is expected to come with top-notch specifications and, although no official news has been published, pictures of what is suspected to be the new smartphone has been published on the internet. TechNode has also reported that new smartphones from Xiaomi and OPPO will feature three-dimensional sensing technology for facial recognition as early as March or April this year, according to industry sources.

OPPO is one of China’s top four smartphone creators which include Huawei, Xiaomi, and Vivo. In 2016, OPPO managed to take over Huawei in terms of market share in China. Owned by billionaire Duan Yong Ping, the brand is the fourth largest smartphone manufacturer globally and it has made its fame by selling low-cost models.

OPPO covers around 30 markets. Last week, OPPO announced that it will start selling its phones in Japan in the spring.

Huawei, Oppo, and Xiaomi came in the top 5, after Samsung and Apple, in the Southeast Asia region during Q3 2017, according to data from research firm Gartner. Among them, Xiaomi’s phone shipments grew nearly 80%, and the market share increased from 4% last year to 7% (in Chinese).

Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo are the top four domestic smartphone makers in the third quarter in their home ground mainland China, and they started to get a grip of the Southeast Asian market in recent years. According to IDC data, Oppo accounted for the second-largest sales volume in 2016 with 13.2% market share, with shipments up 137.5% YoY. ASUS and Huawei each took third and fourth, with 5.9% and 5.1% respectively.

The latest figures from Strategy Analytics reported that in the third quarter of 2017, Oppo was the second largest market player in Southeast Asia with 17.2% market share, followed by the other Chinese mobile phone brand Vivo, taking 4.6% market share.

The report pointed out that global smartphone shipments in the third quarter to be able to achieve a 3% year-on-year growth, thanks to strong growth in Asia Pacific emerging markets and North American markets.

On the other hand, China’s smartphone market is shrinking. Comparing the third quarter figures for 2016 and 2017, smartphone sales in Greater China dropped from 32.3% to 27.9% in the global market, while the share of emerging markets in Asia Pacific rose from 19.1% to 21.3%.

Editor’s note: A version of this post by Zhang Xia first appeared on Yicai Global.

New smartphones from Xiaomi and Oppo will feature three-dimensional sensing technology for facial recognition as early as March or April next year, industry sources said.

Himax Technologies and Qualcomm will develop the 3D sensing technology using modules produced by Truly Opto-electronics. These three companies’ cooperation will enhance the hardware configuration of high-end models introduced by Chinese smartphone makers in the coming years, boosting their competitiveness, Digitimes quoted the sources as saying.

Huawei, China’s largest smartphones maker, is working with Sunny Optical Technology to develop a 3D sensor solution for its high-end models, the sources said. Chinese touch panel and optical sensor supplier Shenzhen O-film Tech Co. is accelerating the development of its structured light solutions and teaming up with domestic phone manufacturers to enter the 3D sensor market, the sources said.

Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, and were the top five domestic smartphone makers in mainland China in the third quarter, per a report from Digitimes’ research division. Huawei led the market with 40 million smartphone shipments in the quarter, followed by Xiaomi with 23 million and Oppo with more than 20 million.

The high-stake visit of US president Donald Trump to China has recorded positive results today as the US smartphone chip maker Qualcomm announced non-binding memoranda of understanding (MoU) with three of China’s top smartphone makers: Xiaomi, OPPO and vivo.

Each of the companies expressed a non-binding interest in the purchase of components with an aggregate value of no less than $12 billion over the next three years, according to a company statement.

China’s smartphone makers have been gaining momentums over the past few years not only in domestic but also the global market. Along with the trend, smartphone chip industry is has seen strong growth in the country. The world’s top chip maker Qualcomm earns more than half of its revenues in China.

Meanwhile, Chinese phone companies are also looking to have more control over their own hardware. It’s worth noting that Xiaomi was reportedly developing smartphone processors on its own early this year.

“Qualcomm has longstanding relationships with Xiaomi, OPPO and vivo and we are continuing our commitment to investing and helping advance China’s mobile and semiconductor industries,” said Steve Mollenkopf, chief executive officer, Qualcomm Incorporated.

Qualcomm’s rival Broadcom offered a $105 billion buyout bit earlier this week. Tighter partnership with Chinese manufacturers may ease the pressures resulted from the lengthy legal battle with Apple Inc. over patent fees.

India’s market has become another battlefield for China’s mobile phone manufacturers. The second largest market after China showed 36 million units of smartphone sales, a 7% increase YoY. Four of China’s companies are putting greater pressure on Samsung, according to an Indian smartphone market third-quarter report released by Yonhap news agency on Sunday.

The report shows that Samsung mobile phone is still veteran in India market taking the first place, with a third-quarter share of 26%. Chinese player Xiaomi ranked second with its share increasing to 25%. In the second quarter of this year, Samsung had a market share of 21.2%, while Xiaomi recorded only 15.6%.

Three other Chinese companies monopolized the other positions in the top five. Vivo had 10%, OPPO 9%, while Lenovo’s market share fell to 7%.

“As China’s market saturates, the fast-growing India market will become a much more important market for smartphone manufacturers next year,” the report said. The Indian market is growing fast in both consumption and retail sector, as India’s retail sector surpassed China with anticipated growth of $1.3 trillion by 2020.

Statistics show that the most popular smartphone prices between $100 to $150 in the Indian market. Chinese manufacturers have launched a large number of products within this price range, cultivating Indian fans.

Replicating the pattern in the Chinese market, Chinese mobile phone manufacturers in India have had great success, as they launched high quality Android mobile phones, which have the same configuration with that of iPhone, but with a much lower price tag.

The Red Mi Note, Red Mi 4, Red Mi 4A were the three most popular mobile phones from Xiaomi (in Korean) in India, and Samsung’s low-end mobile phone Galaxy J2 ranked fourth.

Huawei may have beat Apple in global mobile phone sales since June, becoming the world’s second-largest smartphone brand, next only to Samsung. However, Huawei failed to enter the top 5 in India.

Inner Mongolia is an autonomous region of China, located in the north of China. While the area might be unknown to a lot of China observers, it is a thriving region: per capita GDP reached RMB 28,350 in 2015 ranking 10th among all 31 provinces with an annual growth rate of 9%. It also has an abundant land area: While the area holds only 24 million people, it takes 12% of China’s total land area.

The area will see more growth as China Railway Corp plans to launch a high-speed train that connects Inner Mongolia’s capital city Hohhot to Beijing, reducing its average nine hours travel time to less than three hours.

According to a statistics released by 21 Caijing, Oppo (40%) and Vivo (30%) phones are the most sold phones in third tier cities, followed by iPhone (29%). The order goes same for fourth tier cities, as Oppo, Vivo, and Apple take 31%, 25% and 22% market share, respectively.

We hit up local people on the bus, train and on the streets of Hohhot, the capital city of Inner Mongolia and a third tier city as well as  Xilingol, the fourth tier city famous for its vast grasslands near the city. Are Oppo and Vivo phones really popular in Inner Mongolia? Read on to find out; the answer may surprise you!

Oppo and Vivo brick and mortar stores were easily seen in Inner Mongolian cities. As these cities were going through rapid urbanization, Hohhot city was constructing first subway station on its main street, and Xilingol city was building new apartments and shopping areas. As a fourth tier city in China, Xilinggol didn’t have Starbucks, but it did have 2 KFCs and 1 McDonald’s. There were no city buses in the Xilingol, and people were moving around the city with taxis, easily caught on the streets, paying only 6 yuan. Mobile payment has not penetrated deeply in these cities yet, as some restaurants and taxi drivers only accepted cash. For delivery times, many locals said that it takes 3-6 for a Taobao order to arrive.

Ethnically, Han—China’s main ethnicity—comprises 79% of the population in Inner Mongolia, followed by Mongol at 17%, and Manchu at 2%.

We interviewed 5 Mongol people, 4 Han people, and 1 Manchurian person (all in Mandarin Chinese!). Among them, 6 used an iPhone, 2 used a Vivo, 1 used an Oppo, 1 used a 2G Gionee phone. iPhone interviewees were all younger generation, from 13 years old to 31 years old.

Dolina Boroton (13), Mongol, student

I use the iPhone5 my parents gave me. Most of my classmates have their own phone, too. I cannot download Alipay yet, so I used my mom’s account to buy a pair of soccer shoes on Taobao; it took about 6 days to get to my home. I don’t play games on my phone, just chat with friends on WeChat and take photos.

Oyundalai (28), Mongol, singer

I am a singer at a live bar in Hohhot city and perform here every night. I’m from Xilingol and moved to Hohhot in 2011. I use an iPhone7, and my favorite app is YouTube. I watch how other music bands perform at rock festivals.

(Continue reading on the following pages)

Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, and Lenovo are among the top five mobile brands in India, but Samsung continues to rule India’s smartphone shipments with a 25 percent market share, according to new figures from market research company Canalys.

“With China suffering its own decline this quarter, India is a market of huge strategic importance to Chinese smartphone vendors,” said Canalys Research Analyst Ishan Dutt. “Samsung is under immense pressure in the mid-tier from the Chinese players.”

Over 50 percent of India’s smartphone brands is currently controlled by Chinese brands, including Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, Shenzhen-based Gionee, and Lenovo.

The biggest winner of this year’s Q2 is Xiaomi which has more than quadrupled its shipments to 4.8 million units making it India’s largest smartphone brand after Samsung. This month, Xiaomi celebrated its third Mi anniversary in India. Sales of Xiaomi’s Redmi series have been growing strong despite a viral video showing one of Xiaomi’s phones catching fire. The incident, however, seems to be fake.

Thanks to its popularity among tier-two and tier-three cities, Vivo placed third in this quarter shipping a record 3.4 million units. Unfortunately, the company’s reputation came under scrutiny after a protest from former workers turned violent on Tuesday. According to media reports, as a part of its efforts to boost its brand by sponsoring the Indian Premier League Vivo hired a number of workers during the season and has now begun laying them off. In the case of Tuesday’s protests, the workers were fired with no prior notice.

Oppo, which is like Vivo owned by Guangzhou-based BBK Electronics, came fourth, closely followed by Lenovo with 1.9 million units shipped in the second quarter.

One brand that was notably missing from the report is Huawei which is lagging behind its compatriots in conquering the Indian market. Huawei sold only 1 million units during the last fiscal year ending on March 31st. The second largest Android smartphone manufacturer in the world hopes to bolster its success in this core market during 2017.

The research also warned that India’s smartphone market has contracted for the first time in history this Q2 causing shipments to the country to fall 4% year on year to just under 27 million units. A portion of the blame goes to India’s new Goods and Services Tax, the report said.

China is heaven for mobile payments. The 84% of Chinese respondents said that they used some form of digital payment systems to pay for online purchases in the past six months, according to Nielsen’s “Global Connected Commerce” report.

High mobile payment penetration in China also means that it is a market ripe to be taken advantage of. One of the main security methods on most phones is the fingerprint. It is used for everything from unlocking your phone to confirming purchases. However, it is not foolproof and can be “spoofed,” or faked, if criminals are willing to put in the time and effort to create fake fingerprints.

Leading mobile manufacturers Huawei, Google, OPPO, VIVO, Xiaomi, Lenovo, Sony, ZTE, Coolpad and HTC are using Precise Biometrics’ software to secure mobile payments from fraud and identity theft.

60 percent of all transactions are expected to be performed via biometric authentication by 2020, primarily via fingerprint sensors in mobile devices, according to the Biometrics Research Group. In fact, the Redmi Note 4X, released this February, and the OPPO R11 released this June, both have integrated their fingerprint sensor.

“Of course, there are a lot of different methods to unlock your phone. Scanning your fingerprint is the most convenient form. It will take longer if you want to do an iris or face. For its convenience, scanning your fingerprint is used for the low-risk activities like unlocking the phone,” Mark Cornett, Senior Sales Director of North America at Precise Biometrics answered TechNode’s question at the Press conference.

The Swedish company launched their new security suite that offers industry leading fingerprint matching software with spoof and liveness detection, as well as standalone anti-spoof products and services. Liveness detection can tell whether a real finger is being used.

Their solutions and services for efficient spoof and liveness detection is designed to protect fingerprint sensors which are vulnerable to spoofing via fake fingers. The main feature in the security suite is the integration of spoof and liveness detection capability into Precise Biometrics’ fingerprint software for mobile devices, Precise BioMatchTM Mobile.

“[Making a fake finger to hack your phone] is not difficult to do, and the risk is there. We will be able to bring a larger sensor to the mobile device market so that we can prevent mobile device hacking,” Mark said.

Precise Biometrics showed a video how to perform a spoof attack, to demonstrate that the risk is real. A fingerprint impression is left on the phone, and a latent print is captured using latent power and tape. Then the image is scanned and uploaded to the computer. Using a laser printer, the fingerprint is then scanned and wood glue is applied on top of it. When the wood glue is dry, then you can use this fake fingerprint to unlock the phone.

The anti-spoof solution is software-based, which makes it easy to integrate without any need for additional hardware. Precise BioMatch Mobile with spoof and liveness detection capabilities will be available by the end of Q3.

“By adding the other features in our security suite, we are offering our customers a one-of-a-kind toolbox for secure fingerprint technology, enabling trustworthy mobile payments,” said Håkan Persson, CEO of Precise Biometrics said in the press release.

Chinese manufacturers took six of places in the global top ten smartphone manufacturers in the first quarter of 2017 with one in ten phones sold worldwide made by Huawei, according to a report by market research agency IDC. Three of the top five were Chinese, from zero just five years ago.

While the global heavyweights Samsung and Apple still hold first and second place—and by quite a margin—the gap between second-place Apple and third-place Huawei is beginning to narrow as Apple’s sales fell 1% to 50.8 million units compared to the previous year whereas Huawei’s sales surged 22% to 34.6 million. At the top, Samsung managed 1% growth year on year to reach 80 million handsets.

The real growth came from the final two firms making up the top five: fourth-place OPPO saw a whopping 93% leap to 25.5 million shipments and fifth-place Vivo saw 82% growth up to 22.7 million shipments.

52 countries saw shipments of Chinese smartphones grow by over 50%, 32 by over 100%. This means that in 31 countries Chinese brands make up more than 15% of the market and 21 where market share is more than 20%.

Smartphone shipments within China show that the top three spots are taken by local brands with Huawei making up 20%, OPPO taking 18.2% and Vivo claiming 14.1% market share. Apple limped in fourth with 9.6% of the market share, just ahead of local rival Xiaomi at 9.3%.

With their figures combined, Chinese brands have dominated for the past five years with the country’s mobile phone brands making up an ever larger percentage of global shipments, standing at 61% in 2016.

We’ve updated for 2018. Check out this year’s list here.

While Apple continues to have their struggles in China, Android-powered smartphones are picking up the slack. Unfortunately, Google isn’t doing so well in China either. This means that if Android users want to download applications, they must rely on app stores operated by local players.

The app market ranking in April 2017 released by Newzoo shows that Tencent takes almost a quarter of the China’s fragmented Android app market without the presence of iOS. Compares with the top 10 Android app store ranking of 2015, Tencent’s store Myapp (应用宝) is now the king with 24.7% of the market, followed closely by Qihoo’s 360 Mobile Assitant (360 手机助手).

Despite the current trend of using WeChat Public accounts to start a business, the number of installed apps and app usage hours both increased compared to a year ago, according to China Internet Watch. Mobile apps in China have more than 10 million monthly active users in Q1 2017.

App stores of Chinese smartphone companies, Huawei, Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi all gain more pieces of market share compared to the figure in 2015. Looking at those peers, Qihoo 360 also jumped into the smartphone business.

Their smartphone sales ranking doesn’t exactly reflect on app store ranking though. Huawei made the biggest sale in April, but Xiaomi still takes the first place in the app store among the smartphone players.

1. Tencent MyApp (24.7%)

“Tencent attracted users through its current services like QQ, WeChat, and games, dwarfed other services by the number of users and the sales,” Hyunjoo Kate Lee, Senior Principal UX Designer at Tencent told TechNode.

As other mobile device manufacturers promote users to use their own app stores, the Android app market will saturate, it is unlikely app market will see much more growth.

“Once artificial intelligence is applied to the phones and the apps in the future, I believe User Experience on applications will be very different from what is now,” Lee said.

2. 360 Mobile Assitant (15.5%)

360 Mobile Assistant lost the market share of 9.5% compared to 2015’s figure. Following in the footsteps of other Chinese smartphone companies, Qihoo also launched its 360 N5S smartphone with 6GB RAM and Dual front camera setup priced at 1699 RMB.

Supplier of anti-virus software Qihoo has several mobile security products including 360 Safe Guard, 360 Anti-virus, and 360 Mobile Safe, which helped the company to gain traction with its own app market. Qihoo, in fact, cracked part of last month’s ransomware virus that breached 200,000 computers on this month with its software patch that can recover the data encrypted by the unidentified attackers, reports CCTV.

3. Xiaomi App Store (13.0%)

“Xiaomi has a better grip on software part than the hardware. In Xiaomi store, they did a good job in the app distribution and user experience, more than 85% of the apps are downloaded and updated, all from their own distribution system,” Cherry, a previous employee at Xiaomi told TechNode.

4. Baidu Mobile Assistant (12.7%)

Baidu Mobile Assistant has given its 3rd rank to Xiaomi, with its market share falling 4.3% than two years ago. After the issues with Baidu’s medical ads, Baidu hurt its reputation as a search engine emperor and is now transitioning away from mobile.

“Baidu is transitioning its core business from its mobile technology to artificial intelligence,” said Lu Qi, currently Baidu’s chief operating officer and a top level AI expert to according to South China Morning Post.

5. Huawei (10.5%)

Founded in 1987 by Ren Zhengfei, Huawei started its business as a networking and telecommunications equipment and services company. After the Shenzhen-based company unveiled their first Android phone in 2009, now it takes the biggest market share in China’s smartphone market. Huawei has expanded aggressively into overseas markets including Europe and South America.

This February, Huawei released its latest high-end smartphone P10, manufactured in their own production line and introduced a Leica dual camera to attract young female customers.

6. OPPO (7.4%)

OPPO app store was not even on the top 10 list of app store ranking in 2015, and has made a big leap to 6th place. Thanks to their low-end phones targeting rural China, OPPO R9s made 1.7 million shipments according to Sunrise Big Data. In Southeast Asia, OPPO has taken the no.2 spot in both Indonesia and Vietnam in two years, according to market research firms IDC and GFK.

OPPO, founded in 2001 by Chen Mingyong, started out by selling DVD players, audio speakers, and later the MP3 players, and expanded into the mobile phone market in 2006, and introduced its smartphone in 2011.

7. Wandoujia (4.0%)

You might wonder what Alibaba is doing in this app store war. Alibaba, rather than developing its own app store, acquired a big app market. Last year July, Alibaba acquired Wandoujia for an undisclosed amount. Wandoujia was valued at more than a US$ 1 billion when it landed a US$ 120 million funding round led by Softbank in 2014. For two years, its market share of 4% has not changed.

8. Google Play Store (3.7%)

Google Play is not shipped on any phone made in China, but it is possible to install it, given the right tools and knowledge.

Wangping, a Chinese tech blogger and a Xiaomi phone user for 2-year-and-a-half tells us how why he uses Google Play.

“Xiaomi’s app store had too many advertisements last year, and there were so many apps that I wanted to download on Google Play. So I started using Google Play Store from 1 year ago,” Wangping said. “I mostly use Google Play to download foreign apps, and use the Chinese Xiaomi app store to download Chinese apps.”

9. Vivo (3.3%)

Oppo’s sister brand Vivo has made progress in catching the favor of lower tier cities in China, with the Vivo X9 making 1.3 million shipments according to Sunrise Big Data. However, its app market dominance fell down to 3.3% this year, from 4% in 2015.

The company signed an endorsement sponsorship with NBA player Lebron James, to increase its brand awareness. In India, Vivo’s sales grew 220 percent, according to Gartner’s research director Ansul Gupta.

10. Hi Market (2.6%)

HiMarket was launched in 2011 by 91 Wireless in an attempt to expand into the Android market. In July 2013, Baidu bought 91 Wireless, which owns both 91 Assistant and HiMarket, for $1.85 billion USD, recording the most expensive deal that time.

• A brief history of the iPhone in China
• A look at some strong competitors and their ability to appeal to Chinese customers
• Apple’s non-existent services ecosystem
• Tensions between Apple and Tencent (hint: half of Apple’s China app store revenue comes from Tencent’s games)

Download this episode.

• Emma Lee: One year on, Apple Pay finding little traction in the Middle Kingdom
• Kayla Matthews: Why Apple is coming under fire for its Chinese app offerings
• Matthew Brennan: WeChat is building an augment reality app store
• Steven Millward: It’s looking really grim for Apple in China
• App Annie: Market Forecast 2016-2021
• How to leave an iTunes review

• John Artman, @knowsnothing, TechNode
• Matthew Brennan, @MattyBGoooner, ChinaChannel

• iTunes
• RSS feed
• Music: “Theme from Penguins on Parade” by Lee Rosevere, Music for Podcasts 3

Check out this episode!

Editor’s note: This was contributed by Nera Cruz, writer and web merchandiser for different online marketplaces around the globe since 2011. 

The words “Made in China” elicit a wide range of responses and perceptions. We often see this label on a wide variety of things from our favorite sneakers, to our smartphone adapters and some of the best-selling and popular toys on the market. There’s no surprise that these three little words can create such ambivalence.

How “Made In China” Got a Bad Rap in the First Place

There was a time when people enjoyed and appreciated products from China. Items such as furniture, dining sets, and tea had cultural value worldwide. However, since China became the de facto supplier of products for many brands, people all over the world had a change of heart.

Consumers are all too aware of some of the issues associated with many products made in China. These include product safety concerns, such as toxic capsules, contaminated food, and toys containing lead paint. News stories even featured human rights concerns regarding labor as well as international trade disputes. Consumers also know that products that carried the “Made in China” label are cheap, and that often wasn’t a good thing.

The relationship between Chinese exporters and their customers are deemed dubious as well. Chinese suppliers and Western importers maintained business relationships wherein the suppliers receive payment before products are shipped. This meant that a lot of problems never came to light until after the shipping containers reach their destinations. The suppliers have plenty of leverage, simply because importers have grown accustomed to continuity, and will want to preserve continuity over quality.

Climbing the ladder of global value

Negative perceptions of Chinese manufacturers remained pervasive until fairly recently, when the central government drafted a five-year plan to change things. This plan sought to move away from quantity and towards quality, with the help of foreign funds to move the economy up the global value chain.

This foreign direct investment (FDI) plan meant that China will no longer rely on foreign investors for the manufacturing of products, but instead be used for such sectors as education, elderly care, and finance, areas that the central government feel would benefit from foreign expertise.

Domestically and internally, China began to shift their focus towards “streamlin(ing) administration, mandat(ing) more powers to lower-level governments to vitalize market to boost market vitality.” By increasing the involvement of private businesses, prioritizing innovation over mass production and reshaping the fiscal framework, the goal for China is to reduce dependence on exports and increase domestic consumerism.

Although this led to an economic slowdown, wages have continued to increase. Of course, economic pressures help to ensure that suppliers of low-priced mass-produced goods will not prevail over those whose products meet higher standards.

An example of the principle of “quality over quantity” can be found in the approach to combat music piracy, thanks to the advent of Starwish, a recent music business startup. Founder Gary Chen began with his confidence in online advertising and gained notoriety for successfully convincing major music labels to offer free digital music downloads in mainland China. By leveraging advertising revenue from Google AdSense, his online music Top100.cn became the first legitimate digital music provider in the country.

Success stories of gadget innovation

Today, China is a source for products at various levels of quality. Even products of the highest quality are produced in China. Luxury brands, smartphones, and other high quality consumer goods are manufactured in China, thanks to many factors.

The learning curve for Chinese manufacturers to produce high quality products was undoubtedly steep. There were requisites that could not be overlooked—the acquisition of skills and technology, training of qualified workers, and the development and maintenance of sustainable infrastructures were all needed in order to succeed.

This year, CES 2017 gave us a glimpse of some of the latest innovations coming from players such as Lenovo, Asus and Dell, all of whom have manufacturing locations in various parts of China. Lenovo’s Smart Assistant can handle a wide array of tasks. Asus’ Zenfone AR utilizes augmented and virtual reality technology, and Dell’s 2-in-1 Latitude seeks to change the landscape for laptop computers.

Indeed, the smartphone industry in China is in the middle of a boom, thanks to some aggressive players in the market. Xiaomi once held the spot as the world’s fifth-largest seller of smartphones, but was overtaken by Oppo, Huawei and Vivo. Rather than undercut the competition, Xiaomi is taking the approach to create products that are cooler, more desirable than the competition, and move into markets that aren’t saturated. This strategy falls in line with the principle of “quality over quantity,” leading to greater innovation for future projects.

Xiaomi, a once red-hot Chinese hardware startup touted as the China’s answer to Apple, is encountering serious challenges from local competitors of Oppo, Vivo, and Huawei in the past year. It’s even been being moved from the first to the fifth spot in the market share list.

The reasons behind this disastrous drop were multi-faceted and involve issues from supply chain management to the lack of high-end products. However, the company’s online-focused marketing strategy is widely considered as a major reason.

Online marketing was a success, but it’s not one-size-fits-all

Born in 2010, Xiaomi positioned itself a brand with internet DNA and tried to engage customers with its geeky positioning. This is perfectly reflected in its slogan “Born for You, Burn for MI” (为发烧而生). In line with the positioning, Xiaomi leveraged corresponding online-focused marketing strategies, rejecting physical retail stores, traditional distribution channels, and conventional advertising as a way to keep lower product prices.

From online flash sales, social media promotion to creating a fanatic fan community, Xiaomi’s marketing moves proved to be a success in tapping China’s urban starter smartphone user base in its early stage of development with smartphones packed decent specs and affordable prices.

As the first regions to adopt smartphones, China tier-one and tier-two cities have gradually becoming saturated in recent years. Lower-tier cities and rural areas, where internet penetration is lower and traditional retailing still dominates, are taking bigger roles in driving smartphone market.

Market changes. Sticking to the old strategies, no matter how effective it was in the past, to tap a different market is obviously not a wise choice.

How will Xiaomi differentiate?

While Xiaomi is losing ground, its local competitors Oppo and Vivo are rising by adopting the exact tactics that Xiaomi once avoided. Now, Xiaomi is shifting to the offline-focused strategy that’s helped its rivals boom.

Xiaomi opened its first flagship retail stores in 2013. Back then, the move was largely a PR effort to build a more favorable company brand. Currently, there’s overall 47 Mi Homes in the country, including one in Hong Kong and one in Taiwan.

The firm’s obviously more serious about going offline this time. Company founder Lei Jun said the smartphone maker is going to add 200 brick-and-mortar Mi Home stores in 2017. A combined 1,000 such stores will be opened in the future three years.

In addition, the company started a pilot of a direct-to-retail model to eliminate distributors and other middlemen. Every individual retailer can order directly from the company on Xiaomi’s marketplace. The site shows that Xiaomi will offer training and incentive plans to individual merchants in the plan. Compared with opening physical stores, this is a less pricey way to reach to customers.

Apple’s having a hard time in China this year. For the first time ever, it reported a decline in year-on-year revenue and lost the iPhone patent case. Beijing also imposed strict rules on online publishing and Apple’s online stores for iBooks and movies were closed in April.

China is the largest iPhone market in the world by the number of activated smartphones in China in 2015. This might change, however. Now Apple ranks fifth in China in smartphone market share, elbowed out by local vendors Huawei, OPPO, Vivo, and Xiaomi. According to Apple’s third quarter 2016 report, China ranks third in revenue, behind the Americas and Europe.

On Thursday, the iPhone 7 was released, but there was a less buzz among Chinese netizens compared to when the iPhone 6 launched. To find out the offline reaction of Chinese consumers, we hit Sandbox, a co-working space in Shanghai, and asked Chinese people (five male, five female interviewees) if they would consider buying a new iPhone 7.

Here are their answers. Only one person out of ten people considered buying the new iPhone 7.

Qing Liu (27) Sports socks brand entrepreneur

I don’t want to buy the iPhone 7. I have an iPhone 6 and I’m happy with it. I currently have an iPhone 6 Plus and OPPO. The iPhone 6 Plus is for personal use and the OPPO phone is for work. Our company gave me the OPPO phone. The OPPO phone is slow to react when I swipe from one screen to another, but now the OPPO phone reacts smoothly as well. Before, when I clicked an app on my phone, I needed to wait five seconds to open it, but now it opens instantly.

The China market is now leaning towards domestic brands like Huawei. These days, Chinese entrepreneurs like Huawei phones more. There’s not a lot of differences between smartphone brands now. It’s almost the same. Many people now think buying a ‘Made in China’ phone is more economical.

Roy Lee (30) film website business development

I don’t want to buy an iPhone 7. I already have an iPhone 6S and I don’t want to buy the new one. I chose to buy an iPhone over a Chinese smartphone because of the iOS network – it’s linked to my Apple devices. (He is using a MacBook Air).

Weiqi Qian (61) Seawater electricity generating company CEO

I don’t want to buy an iPhone 7. Huawei’s phones are now better than [Apple’s]. Apple is now falling behind. We like Huawei. We love China-made products and Huawei is made in China.

I’m using a Lenovo phone. The government gives out a 2,900 yuan ($434 USD) monthly pension for retired people like me and I couldn’t afford a Huawei phone. That’s why I bought a Lenovo phone with 500 yuan ($75 USD). […] I don’t have money and that’s why I started a startup. I want to make my dream come true. Would you invest in my company?

Jiaojia Wei (24) App “WeChange” Product Manager

I watched the keynote of the iPhone 7 release. I saw the new iPhone 7 and it didn’t satisfy me. I use an iPhone 6. I don’t want to buy an iPhone 7. Apple dropped the headphone jack and instead added an adapter that will enable traditional headphone users to connect their existing headset to the new iPhone.

That means you can either plug in your headphone or charge your phone but you cannot do both. That means I cannot watch a movie while charging my phone. I watch movies using my phone, so it was an important part of my decision not to buy the iPhone 7. The waterproof feature is really useful though. Water can easily smear onto your phone so I think it’s a good feature.

Bowang Lee (19) University freshman, doing research

I don’t want to buy the iPhone 7. I’m using the Huawei Honor. I bought it because it’s the product of my country and in some ways it’s better than the iPhone. It’s true. The internal memory of the iPhone is only 1 GB, but Huawei’s is 4 GB. If you have more memory you can run more apps at the same time and it works more smoothly. I’d say Huawei’s quality-to-price ratio is better than the iPhone’s.

Mia Klum Liu (24) app UI designer

I’m an app UI designer and the details of a phone really matter to me. I want to buy the iPhone 7. I want to experience what it’s like. I saw the pictures of the new iPhone this morning. It didn’t reach my [expectations] of an ideal phone. There weren’t many differences or changes made to it than previous ones. Now I think Android is better than iOS. I’m okay with the iPhone [hardware] itself, but I feel like Android has gone through more improvements, and I think there was not much improvement made to iOS.

I mentioned the weak points of the iPhone, and yes, there’s a gap between the iPhone 7 and my ideal phone, but still I want to experience the new iPhone and I still like the iPhone. I have an iPhone 5. I bought it with the money I saved from when I was working at the university helping other students. So if I have a chance later, I will consider buying the iPhone 7.

Nuria Ni (26) Business group Project manager

This morning I read about iPhone 7’s release on Weibo, but I don’t want to buy the iPhone 7. I already have an iPhone 6S Plus. Chinese phones are also good, like Huawei is really good. But I’m now used to Apple’s iOS, so I won’t consider buying a Chinese phone. Apple’s system is much more convenient. I also bought a MacBook and it’s really convenient to link the two devices.

Vera Yang (22) New media operation

I don’t want to buy the iPhone 7. I’m using an iPhone 6 and I can still use it and I’m satisfied with the features. I have another phone, a Meitu phone made by Meizu. Meitu is for work and I bought it myself. When I take a selfie, I look more beautiful on pictures taken with my Meitu phone. I bought two phones because I don’t want to see my personal phone when I’ m working. The features I use in both phones are the same – WeChat, QQ – I have them all on both phones. It’s just the contact lists that are different on two phones. If my iPhone 6 is out of order, then I might consider buying a new iPhone.

Apple Lee (35, female) HR in a startup

I don’t want to buy the iPhone 7. I have never used an Apple product in my life. I’m using Xiaomi 4C, which came out last year. I would rather buy Huawei or Xiaomi than the iPhone, because if I buy an Apple product and leave it on my seat for awhile, another person will steal it.

At first, I used a Nokia phone, but it was not a smartphone. Then my friend sent me a Samsung smartphone, but the screen broke when I dropped it. Then I started to only buy Xiaomi phones. I previously used a Xiaomi 4.

Sherry Shen (23, female) Event planning

I don’t want to buy the iPhone 7. I’m using a Huawei MateS and I bought it this year in March. Huawei has a better reputation among my friends and the iPhone is too expensive. Huawei has a better quality-to-price ratio. When I used the iPhone 5, I thought it was very smooth and had many apps. Using Wi-Fi on an iPhone is not so convenient.

Image Credit: TechNode

Eva Xiao from TechNode continued our discussion on Xiaomi, focusing on what kind of company Xiaomi truly is, and the current challenges they are facing to justify their US$45B valuation. We discussed the company’s recent failures to hit their 100 million smartphones target, their loss of smartphone market share, their failure to expand aggressively into international markets such as U.S and India, and their bet on Internet-Of-Things and consumer electronics. We conclude our conversation with where Xiaomi might be in five years time.

Download MP3 here (20.1 MB) or Subscribe via RSS

Analyse Asia with Bernard Leong is a weekly podcast dedicated to the pulse of technology, business & media in Asia. They interview thought leaders and leading industry players and gain their insights to how we perceive and understand the market. Analyse Asia is a content partner of TechNode.

Notes:

• Eva Xiao, Reporter at Technode.com
  • Xiaomi has a reputation as the “Apple of China”, even though their business model in China is much more similar to that of Amazon (with its focus on software services) or Dell, etc. Exactly, how should one perceive Xiaomi as a company – are they more hardware or software? [1:10]
    • Most of their profit is still from hardware (94% smartphones, 11/2014)
    • Innovative business model: flash sales, customer feedback, local supply chain (Foxconn, ‘made in India’), save on advertising, relies on WOM
    • livestreaming from Lei Jun to leak Mi Band 2 and Mi Max
    • Their ability to sell online (cut costs)
  • Business models with software as a service for Xiaomi with in-app purchases. [2:55]
  • Where is the current footprint of Xiaomi across the world? They have expanded to India and Southeast Asia, and avoided US on a whole (though recently they did partnered with Microsoft on patents and software productivity services) [5:31]
    • Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, India, HK, Taiwan, China, Brazil
  • How is Xiaomi different from competitors, such as Huawei and Oppo? [8:15]
  • Xiaomi has a strong fan base in China and other parts of the world –  can you explain the demographic of Xiaomi users?
    • younger users
    • low-middle market
  • Who are the key investors of Xiaomi? (Ref: Crunchbase) [9:15]
    • Ratan Tata from Tata Group – India, Robin Chan.
    • IDG Capital, Shunwei Capital, Qiming Venture Partners, Morningside Group, Qualcomm Ventures, Temasek Holdings
  • Xiaomi has also made investments in startups. What are the key categories of their interest and important startups we should watch? [10:42]
    • hardware incubator (Huami, Zimi, Yunmi)
    • Media and content recently: Iqiyi, Hungama, Blue whale media (online business media startup)
  • Can Xiaomi live up to its US$45B hype? [13:32]
    • They have not done well in 2015 with expansion in India and Southeast Asia, reaching only 70-80M target for sales as compared to the 100M target, what happened?
      • saturating smartphone market in China
      • Huawei sold 100 million smartphones in 2015, 3rd largest smartphone maker after Apple and Samsung
      • Competition in developing markets: Lenovo, Huawei, OnePlus, Meizu
      • Betting too much on IoT ecosystem [15:30]
    • Xiaomi’s reliance on contract manufacturing compared to Huawei  [16:50]
  • Xiaomi faced an onslaught from Huawei and other smartphone makers such as Oppo, which disrupted them from the low end. In addition, Xiaomi is unable to compete in the high-end space, compared to competitors like Samsung or even Apple with the iPhone. Where do you see them going in the smartphone space? [17:50]
  • In your opinion, what are Xiaomi’s current priorities and where do you think that they will be in 5 years time? [18:53]

Qualcomm has sealed a licensing deal with China’s third biggest smartphone vendor, Vivo, as the chip giant smoothes over a rough few years in the Chinese market with steady gains.

Vivo is licensed to use Qualcomm’s technology in their 3G and 4G phones, the chipmaker said on Monday.

It comes just a week after Qualcomm sealed a similar deal with OPPO, which is also owned by Vivo’s parent company BKK Electronics.

The two brands have accelerated through China’s smartphone rankings in 2016, entering the top five local smartphone vendors and surpassing cult favorite Xiaomi. Along with OnePlus, which is also marketed by BKK Electronics, they now make up over 30 percent of phones shipped to the Chinese market.

According to research firm IDC, Vivo and Oppo’s market share grew 124 percent and 153 percent respectively in the year ending in March 2016, while Apple and Samsung’s share dropped in the same period.

Both vendors have a strong presence outside of China’s largest cities, which gives them leverage against premium vendors who market to China’s rapidly saturating first-tier markets.

The deal also marks a new milestone of progress for Qualcomm, which is steadily regaining momentum in the Chinese market following years of uncertainty. The U.S. chipmaker surprised analysts with an unexpected bump revenue bump in last month’s earnings, driven by Chinese chip demand.

Qualcomm makes over half of their total revenue from their chip licensing business, though they have struggled to ink deals with China’s largest smartphone vendors in the past. The company was subject to a year-long anti-trust investigation which ended in Qualcomm forking out a $975 million USD fine in early 2015.

They also payed out a $7.5 million USD fine in March this year after an investigation by the U.S. securities and exchange commission released a report that accused the company of bribing Chinese officials with gifts and employment offers.

With their regulatory issues settled and renewed progress on Chinese licensing deals, the company is hoping for a much brighter future in the world’s largest smartphone market.

During last month’s earnings call Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf said they were optimistic about further deals, and were in active discussion with remaining OEMS.

Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn is building a new factory in southwestern China for Huawei, according to sources who spoke to the Nikkei Asian review.

It comes as wages in eastern China and Taiwan are rising, while Huawei is seeking to lower costs for their local smartphone offerings.

According to the sources, the factory will be built in Guizhou, which is also within the home-province of Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei.

Huawei has performed relatively well against other counterparts weathering China’s slowing smartphone market. While competitors, including Xiaomi, and looking at significant sales cuts, Huawei has managed to run a successful dual strategy of high-end international smartphones alongside budget local handsets.

In 2016 China’s smartphone market is favoring vendors with existing infrastructure in the country’s smaller cities and regional centers, where there is still a pool of untapped smartphone consumers.

Local competitors Oppo and Vivo, also clients of Foxconn, recently replaced Lenovo and Xiaomi to enter the top five local vendors with their strong third and fourth-tier city presence.

By opening a factory in southwestern China, Huawei will be able to push down manufacturing costs, keeping the prices of their budget handset offerings low.

Foxconn has been operating in Chinese provinces with lower labour costs for several years, including existing operations in Guizhou. The company has developed a network of data centers in the province dating back to 2014.

Chinese smartphone maker Oppo shipped 50 million smartphones in 2015, exceeding expectations with 67 percent year over year growth. It’s part of a wider reshuffle in China’s smartphone market that saw Xiaomi fall from grace and Huawei take top spot as the country’s largest vendor by shipments.

Xiaomi sold just over 70 million, falling well short of their 80 million low-end goal. Huawei broke 100 million with a diversified strategy targeting high-end users with the Mate S. Oppo’s global market share now stands at 3.8% as of the beginning of 2016, compared to Huawei’s 8.4%, Xiaomi’s 5.6% and LG’s 5.3%, according to a report released this month by market research firm TrendForce.

Oppo’s sales projected them into the top ten global smartphone brands, ranking eighth despite an increasingly saturated Chinese market. The company has followed other vendors into neighboring Asian markets including Vietnam, where they claim to be the second largest vendor in offline sales.

Oppo has also invested heavily in an India expansion, entering into an agreement with Foxconn to manufacture phones in India, as well as a marketing partnership with the International Cricket Council (ICC). In a release on Tuesday the company said they plan on 60 percent growth in non-Chinese markets, buoyed by “a planned sales increase of 300 percent by the end of the year” in India.

Samsung’s grip on global sales slipped in 2015, falling to 24.8% from 27.8% in 2014, leaving breathing room for smaller Chinese Android OEMs looking to crack the market. Lenovo’s share also slid sharply from 7.9% to 5.4% in 2015 following their acquisition of Motorolla.

Oppo claims their success on the Chinese mainland was due in part to the marketing of their fast-charge feature.

CyanogenMod, an open source replacement firmware for smartphones and tablets based on the Android operating system, will launch in-depth cooperation with Chinese phone maker OPPO to develop customized operating system for the latter, according to Chen Mingyong, CEO of OPPO (report in Chinese).

Steve Kondik, founder of CyanogenMod, recently took part in the launch of OPPO N1, a new flagship product of OPPO. Chen said at the event that some well-known ROMs are developed based on products of CyanogenMod, which is widely acknowledged by users worldwide.

Started as a third-party ROM developer group, CyanogenMod has established a company, planning to cooperate with several hardware firms to develop custom ROM package. CyanogenMod still provides free services of ROM download and installation and no advertisements were embedded in the packages. Developing tailored ROM for hardware manufacturers may become one of its business models in the future. In addition to OPPO, the firm also stroke cooperation agreement with HTC.