OnePlus and Oppo merge: the marriage has been explained by the CEO on the official forum, here are the pros and cons of a momentous step.
First, last January, the merger between the research and development departments of Oppo and OnePlus. Now the deal is complete with the merger between OnePlus and Oppo, which is official. “A new journey begins” reads the image with which the company born a few years ago on its forum, the virtual “square” of OnePlus, announces the merger with Oppo.
OnePlus has hastened to specify that the merger will not affect its software, its unique user experience that over the years has earned it a large base of fans. In short, the company has taken care to instill tranquility to its users in the midst of an epochal passage that will bring it to be officially a brand “under” Oppo while maintaining its decision-making independence and its character. With hindsight, there was a small hint that something was going in this direction last August, when OnePlus CEO Pete Lau announced his return to Oppo as senior vice president and head of product strategy.
What the merger changes for users
In the press release on the forum, CEO Pete Lau explained that this move will provide OnePlus with more resources that will allow it to make better products, while the other macro benefit of the merger will be the increased efficiency that can be spent, for example, in the timely release of software updates.
For users, therefore, Lau assured only benefits from the merger between OnePlus and Oppo. The brand will continue in its mission to offer the customer the best possible product, also and above all in terms of user experience.
The OnePlus branded products will continue to exist and to be made official in separate events from Oppo, so in this sense there will be no upheaval compared to what happened in recent years. Same for the OnePlus community: it will maintain its central role in collecting feedback on the products, and it will continue to take into account the suggestions of fans on the strategies of the company.
In light of this announcement is easily explainable the presence of Oppo’s Color OS on OnePlus 9 sold in China, instead of the traditional HydrogenOS, the Chinese equivalent of OxygenOS. What is certain because it is clearly underlined by the company is that the OxygenOS is and will continue to be the UI of reference in Western markets, but it is not to be excluded – someone says – that in the future there could be some similarity between the two user interfaces of the duo Oppo-OnePlus. As things stand, however, Italians who have bought a OnePlus phone will continue to receive OxygenOS updates.
Synergies in some markets
In some markets however, probably the emerging ones, some OnePlus products will be sold under the Oppo brand and vice versa, exactly as already happens with Xiaomi/Redmi/Poco products.
Anyhow, even if the two companies were to adopt synergies of this type, they should not affect the Western markets where OnePlus and Oppo have positioned themselves clearly reaching a good base of loyal users.