Despite the similarities between their product lineups and their common investor, OnePlus and Oppo have mostly refused to acknowledge each other. But moving forward that could become a lot more difficult.
OnePlus and Oppo could be the next ‘Redmi & Xiaomi’
A new report (via Android Authority) out this morning reveals that OnePlus and Oppo have merged their hardware R&D departments. The process of unification started in December and was completed earlier this month.Oppo, the fifth-largest smartphone brand in Q3 2020, is now leading the entire recruitment process for hardware. The resulting relationship between OnePlus and Oppo should be similar to that of Xiaomi and sub-brand Redmi.
OnePlus confirmed the unification in a statement:
To better maximize resources and further position OnePlus for growth, we are in the process of further integrating some R&D capabilities within OPLUS, our long-term investor. OnePlus will continue operating independently and working to deliver the best possible user experience for existing and future OnePlus users.
In simpler terms, today’s developments mean that future OnePlus smartphones could more closely resemble existing Oppo products, both in terms of specifications and design.
The good news is that, at least for the time being, OnePlus and Oppo will retain separate software departments for the development of OxygenOS and ColorOS, although recent iterations have grown closer in looks.
