There is a new name in the South African smartphone alphabet soup that runs from Apple to Xiaomi, via Huawei, LG, Nokia Samsung, and Tecno.
Oppo is the world’s fifth biggest handset brand, with 9% global market share, yet has been unknown in South Africa until now. It opened a South African office two months ago, and in October brought in the first model to be marketed in South Africa.
The Oppp A72 is a 6.5″ Android 10 smartphone, with a 1080 x 2400 pixel display, a decent 405 pixel per inch density, and 128GB storage. Priced at R6,999, that firmly positions the brand as a value-for-money option, with high-specs at a mid-range cost.
Our tests on the device suggested that its camera power will be the big selling point. Four cameras on the back, in an array that gives it the look of a high-end flagship phone, include a 48MP wide angle, 8MP ultrawide, 2MP depth and 2MP black-and-white lens. That allows for image blending that offers a wide array of special effects and modes. The most impressive test was photographing objects in a window, from the interior, with bright back-light – usually the exact shooting position that amateurs are warned to avoid. The result was unexpectedly excellent light and resolution on the subject matter – which happened to be a cat.
The selfie camera is fairly impressive, with a 16MP wide angle lens getting more in, from both a subject and a resolution point of view.
The A72 boasts stereo speakers, “bespoke sound tuning and high resolution audio support”, but its sound quality is best experienced through premium TWS wireless earphones that come bundled with the phone.
Oppo goes to great pains to stress that its phones represent value, rather than low cost. It has entered sponsorship agreements with two of the world’s most iconic brands, Lamborghini and FC Barcelona, to emphasise its premium appeal.
Last week, it trebled its range on South Africa, moving down the price curve with the release of the A53S at R4,999, and the A15 at R2,999, firmly establishing its credentials in the mid-range.
The A53s stands out, literally and figuratively, with a giant 5000mAh battery, giving it well over a day of juice – boosted by fast charge capability. Despite this, it is only 8.34mm thick.
It’s a low-cost powerhouse, with a 6.5” display, Qualcomm Snapdragon octa-core 460 processor and OPPO’s new RAM+ memory optimisation, which enhances memory management and expands cache storage on the 4GB of RAM. Unusually for a sub-R5,000 handset, it has 128GB storage, which can be expanded to 256GB.
Like the A72, it has a 16MP selfie camera on the front, along with a triple camera on the rear, including 13MP main lens, 2MP depth camera. and 2MP macro lens.
Despite being almost half the price, the A15 offers a similar display, at 6.52”, and a similar camera array. Its battery is a little smaller, although still large at 4230mA, allowing the device to measure 7.9mm in thickness.
The reason for the low cost becomes apparent, however, in the RAM and storage: 2GB and expandable 32GB respectively, compared to 4GB and 128GB for the higher-end units.
Read more on the next page about why Oppo is launching smartphones in South Africa amid the pandemic.
The question many are asking is why the Oppo range is being launched in South Africa in the midst of a pandemic.
“There’s no better time than the now,” says Liam Faurie, Oppo business head of go-to-market Operations in South Africa. “Oppo has had its eye on this market for some time. It has already opened up markets like Nigeria, Kenya and Egypt.
“Oppo’s main strategy is to make sure that there’s a strong focus on quality, and working with the operators. It’s also been quite a recent introduction with the big operators in Europe, so together with really understanding those operator markets, we wanted to make sure that consumers have got not only quality hardware, but also a quality experience on the networks. That’s why it’s taken longer to ensure that business models are adapted and catered for in big operator markets like South Africa. Covid-19 definitely did have an impact, as we wanted to launch a lot earlier this year.”
Sam Zhang, CEO of Oppo South Africa, said that Huawei’s challenges in working round a ban of Google services did not have any impact on Oppo’s timing.
“It is just coincidence. We are not focused solely on our competitors. The focus is to bring quality products to this country. Competition breeds innovation, not only from a product point of view, but also from a communication point of view as well, but we are laser-focused on aspects like the quality of product and service.”
Faurie is clear on the target market in South Africa, and the reason for its careful selection of devices for release here.
“The product strategy is to penetrate the mid-range market. Oppo is very strong in the mid-range, but not just to bring in any old mid-range product. It’s understanding what the local market wants, effectively what price points are popular, and bring the product and feature set that specifically talks to those price points.
“This year we are launching three models and we believe that we have a good, competitive strategy in terms of the quality of our products, the quality of our service, the way that the product feels, the way it looks.”
The three devices, he says, target specific market segments.
“The A53s, is going to be speaking to gamers. Once you see the feature set and experience the device, you’ll see this is the best gaming and best entertainment device for its price. We follow with a very strong pre-paid product, the A15. The A72 is the camera and audio leader, and we’re also going to bundle it with TWS ear buds.”
The underlying significance of this range is that it is only setting the scene, rather than being Oppo’s main act.
“We are setting the market up for the big flagships, the Reno and the Find X series, to come in the first half of next year,” says Faurie. “The idea is to make sure our team is ready. We’ve got a very strong, very knowledgeable team, that has worked for the big tech brands for many years. We are getting the environment ready to prepare for our flagship launch.”
Read more about Oppo on the next page.
Oppo has been making mobile phones since 2008, and is today ranked 5th in the world in market share. It is a subsidiary of BBK Electronics, along with the Vivo, OnePlus and Realme brands. It developed the ColorOS skin on top of Google’s Android OS, and provides internet services like OPPO Cloud. It currently has 40,000 employees, operates in more than 40 countries, and has six research Institutes and four research and development centres worldwide. Aside from smartphones, it also makes audio devices, power banks, smartwatches, TV sets, and other electronic products.