Oppo, the chinese smartphone maker launched a bunch of smartphones this year but did face some issues as well. The year for Oppo has been a roller coaster ride and here’s a look at what it did wrong, and where it went right.
Oppo 2020: The Number Game
Oppo launched 13 models and after including all variants, the total number was 19. In 2019, the company launched 15 models, which increased to 23 after accounting for all the variants.
Talking about rear cameras, Oppo launched a total of 5 smartphones (compared to 12 models in 2019) with 48MP cameras that made up 26% of the total smartphones launched this year. 2 of the devices (compared to 0 models in 2019) were launched with 64MP cameras, constituting 11% of the total smartphones.
If we talk about Front cameras, Oppo launched 3 smartphones (constituting 16% to the total share) with 32MP camera, 2 smartphones (constituting 11%) with 44MP cameras and 4 smartphones with 16MP camera (constituting 21%). Oppo launched 16 smartphones in the previous year with a 16MP front camera that constituted 70% of the total smartphones it launched last year. It launched 2 smartphones with a front camera between 21MP – 25MP in 2019, and didn’t launch any within this range in 2020.
Similar to last year, Oppo launched all of its smartphones within a display size range of 6.1-inch to 6.8-inch.
The company launched 5 of the smartphones (6 phones in 2019) with 8GB of RAM, contributing 26% to the total smartphones launched in 2020 by Oppo. It launched 2 smartphones with 12GB of RAM contributing 11% while in 2019 it launched none of the devices with 12GB of RAM. It launched 3 smartphones (7 in 2019) with 6GB of RAM contributing 16%, and 5 smartphones (7 in 2019) with 4GB of RAM accounting for 26% of the total devices launched.
If we come to battery capacities, Oppo launched all of its 19 models with battery capacities between 4000 and 5000mAh. Even in 2019 the company launched all of its devices within this range.
Oppo launched 6 smartphones in 2 price ranges that includes Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000, and Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 each constituting 32% in the total share. Last year, it launched 4 smartphones in the former range while the company launched 8 smartphones in the latter range. The price range below Rs 10,000 contributed 11% to the total share with 2 smartphones launched in this price range compared to 3 devices during 2019.
The company launched 1 device in the Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 range contributing 5%, and 3 devices that were priced above Rs 30,000, contributing 16%. In these two ranges, the company launched 4 smartphones in each of them in 2019.
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Oppo 2020: Hits
It is unfortunate to say that the company didn’t witness any major breakthrough developments or extraordinary devices in the year 2020. While in 2019, the company did relatively well, especially with its sharf finn pop-up camera design innovation in its Reno 10x.
In 2020, the only Unique devices we saw Oppo launch were the concept devices. It was one of the first companies to reveal a device with a rollable display but again, the company takes a lot of time to commercialize these concepts and sometimes even misses out on them.
Secondly, the company also launched ColorOS 11 and again became one of the first players in the industry to launch the latest Android version for its devices. The company did try their best to go all in with their devices but were unsuccessful in doing so. In our opinion, the aspect that played a major role in the failure was the pricing of the devices.
Oppo 2020: Misses
Oppo remained a bit silent throughout the year. It made a lot of hype in the smartphone world during 2019 and itself raised the expectations. But in 2020, we see them fail to cope up with those expectations. As said above, it wasn’t able to bring anything extraordinary to the table because of the pandemic or maybe some other reason but as a result, we couldn’t see the true potential of the company in 2020.
If we talk about devices, the Oppo A53 did perform well in lower price range but in the higher segment, none of its devices performed well and none of them could gain limelight and stand out of the crowd.
If we compare to 2019, the company somewhere lost its focus in 2020 in terms of design, camera and various other aspects. We couldn’t identify a clear strategy by Oppo from a product point of view and it looked like the company was getting crushed between Realme and OnePlus. The production plant also faced some issues which had a direct impact on Realme and OnePlus as Oppo manufactures both of these companies devices as well
Oppo 2020: Top smartphones of the year
In our opinion, three of the devices stood out the most from an ordinary lineup of devices that were launched by Oppo this year. First will be the Oppo Find X2. The device competed with the most strongest flagship players in the market and despite it being a bit overpriced, we think that it performed exceptionally well in terms of software as well as camera department.
Another great device in the mid-range segment was the Oppo F15 that brought in some big sales numbers for Oppo. It did well in the market alongside the Oppo A53 which is the third device in our list and was another entry level smartphone that was nicely priced and was a value for money product.
Oppo 2020: What to expect in 2021?
We expect Oppo to bring back its focus that it lost in 2020. It should bring some anticipating products in the market in 2021 and hopefully also commercialize the concept products that it has been showcasing. In our opinion, it will also focus more in the mid-range segment with good value for money smartphones and as always, launch a high end smartphone in the top segment competing with Samsung, OnePlus and other competitors.
Not only smartphones, we are also expecting to see some more exciting audio products from Oppo, considering the success of the Enco series Audio devices. They may devise a more proper strategy to make a stronger comeback in the industry.