OPPO to Invest $1.43B in OnePlus Sub-Brand Over Next Three Years
Chinese smartphone manufacturer OPPO has decided to invest 10 billion yuan ($1.43 billion) in its sub-brand OnePlus, according to a report by Jiemian News on December 16.
According to an OPPO management employee cited in the report, “Most of the 10-billion fund will be used for product R&D of OnePlus. In addition, all the upcoming resources of OPPO will be greatly tilted towards OnePlus, including its basic R&D, supply chain, sales channels, research institutes and leading technologies.”
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OnePlus is a smartphone brand founded in 2013 by Pete Lau, the former vice president of OPPO. The brand first became popular among “geek” tech communities in the Silicon Valley and Bangalore, then gained broader attention in the global market. In 2021, OnePlus officially returned to OPPO to become a sub-brand. Jiemian News previously reported that after their integration, the previous independent development mode has been changed, and the two have started sharing technical architecture and R&D resources.
At the same time, with the help of OPPO sales channels, OnePlus entered 2,800 Chinese counties this year, and it has physical experience outlets in more than 5,000 OPPO stores across the country.
OPPO has also been increasing its investment in R&D. At the end of 2019, TonyChen, the CEO of OPPO, announced at the firm’s annual OPPO INNO Day that its total R&D investment would reach 50 billion yuan throughout the next three years. The following year, OPPO put forward three major plans – Mariana, Pantanal and Andes – which refer respectively to self-developed chips, a cross-platform system and cloud services. Pantanal, released in August 2022, has cooperated with Chinese state-owned automotive giant SAIC to better connect smartphones with cars, tablets and other devices.
OPPO’s AndesBrain was officially unveiled at this year’s INNO DAY on December 14 and 15. The company has simultaneously released a series of scientific and technological achievements, including its second self-developed flagship Bluetooth audio SoC, MariSilicon Y, the OPPO Find N2, a horizontally foldable smartphone weighing only 233g, the first vertically foldable smartphone Find N2 Flip, and the first home intelligent health monitor product H1, under its new health brand OHealth.
According to a report by LatePost, from 2020 to now, the actual R&D investment in OPPO is more than 50 billion yuan, as promised by Tony Chen. AndesBrain, officially established at the end of 2020, now has a team of over 1,000 personnel.
