OPPO gunning to be third top brand in Chinese high-end phone market

OPPO launched a new operating system and business integration with OnePlus to tap into the high-end market, with an eye to becoming one of the top three high-end phone brands in China along with Apple and Huawei.

Among all Chinese smartphone brands, Oppo ranks the second in terms of having the most patents of innovation, behind only Huawei. The tech patent pool, new operating system ColorOS12 and integration with OnePlus have given Oppo confidence that it will become the third major brand in the Chinese high-end smartphone market, said Liu Bo, Oppo's vice president.

In the over 4,000-yuan (US$622) market segment in China, Oppo has a 10 percent market share, with sales growth of 64 percent in 2021.

Integrating with OnePlus will help Oppo grab more market share in high-end and overseas markets, analysts said.

Oppo also released a new flagship model Find X3 Pro with special photography optimization, priced at 6,499 yuan.

Chinese Android brands are in need of a leader, as Huawei fell from the crown due to a United States technology ban. This condition creates space for Apple and other Android brands, said IDC analyst Wang Xi.

Apple's new iPhone 13 models started receiving orders on Friday. Pricing for the iPhone 13 models will start from 5,199 yuan for the iPhone 13 Mini to 12,999 yuan for the iPhone 13 Pro Max with 1 TB of storage.

In the second quarter, the top five smartphone brands in the domestic market were Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi, Apple and Honor, according to CITIC Securities.