It’s probably only in South Africa that Oppo is regarded as an up-and-coming brand. It only launched in this country in late 2020, but has been the number one smartphone manufacturer in China, on and off, since 2016. It became a sponsor of Barcelona FC, arguably one of the world’s three most popular football teams, in 2015. And, as far back as 2010, it even had one of South Korea’s leading boy bands of the time, 2PM, produce a promotional song for their launch in Thailand.
It tested the waters cautiously on South Africa with the release of the mid-range A72 in October, with a price tag of R6,999 firmly targeting a youth market that was budget-conscious but still specs-driven. A 6.5-inch screen, 48MP camera and massive 5000mAh battery signalled Oppo’s intention of competing vigorously for this market.
Now, it is going after the lower high end, with a similar strategy of competing strongly on a combination of price and features.
The new Reno5, an Android 5G handset launched in South Africa last month, brings specs that are comparable to the basic Samsung Galaxy S21 and Apple iPhone 12, but with a few major added extras, and a significant discount. Starting at a recommended retail price (RRP) of R14,299, versus an RRP of R18,999 and R16,499 respectively for two competing devices, it offers something no other phone has: a “Super Fast SuperVOOC 2.0” charger, which allows the phone to be charged to 100% in 35 minutes safely, or from 0 to 25% in 5 minutes, when one is in a hurry and desperate for a little power.
“You’re getting a supercharging beast,” enthuses Liam Faurie, head of go-to-market and operations for Oppo in South Africa. “At launch, this phone is the fastest charging mainstream South African smartphone. The 5 minutes charge to 25% will give you 4 hours of solid gaming, and half a day of normal usage. Five minutes.”
Faurie’s emphasis on the charge time underlines just how significant that feature is expected to be for the brand. It doesn’t stop with time to charge, however. The battery has serious smarts built-in.
“It changes your life, or at least changes the way you use your smartphone,” he says. “If you’re a typical user, you charge your phone overnight. That’s the worst thing that you can do to your phone’s battery. With the Reno5, if you do charge it overnight, it ‘trickle charges’ it only up to 50%, and it keeps it at 50% the whole night, because it knows your waking-up patterns as well. So all it will do is, 10 minutes before you usually wake up, it puts it on a flash charge to take the battery to 100%.”
And if you forget to plug it in overnight? That’s where the fast-charge comes into its own, says Faurie.
Go to the next page to read about Oppo’s super-fast charging technology.
“My charging behaviour is very simple. I wake up in the morning and my phone is probably in the region of about 5 to 10% battery life. It puts my phone into night-time standby mode, so it doesn’t process anything, and it maximizes the juice I’ve got in it. So I have my shower and I have my cup of coffee, which is normally around 20 to 30 minutes, and I charge my phone while I have my cup of coffee. In 30 minutes, I’m fully charged for the rest of the day, and I know my phone will last me, even if I’m going out that night.”
Our tests showed that the phone’s 65W charging brick lives up to Oppo’s promise, demonstrating phenomenally fast-charging technology that could make this phone seriously habit-forming. At a time when brands like Apple and Nokia are launching phones without charging plugs and cables, it gives Oppo the kind of differentiator that could well propel it into the big three in South Africa, muscling its way into the current leading trio made up of Samsung, Huawei and Apple.
The box also includes, as a standard accessory, earphones with another feature that has disappeared from flagship phones: an earphone jack. In combination, these elements bring to the high end the demands of the mid-market – where dispensing with jacks and cables is not yet negotiable.
Given these benefits, a slight lag behind the Galaxy S21 and iPhone 12 in features is barely noticeable: the Reno5 has a 6.5-inch display versus 6.2 and 6.1 respectively, an image density of 410 pixels per inch versus 421 and 460, and high-definition 1080p video versus 4K on the rivals.
On the other hand, its main quad-camera – with an array comprising 64MP, 8MP, 2MP and 2MP lenses – outshines the competition. The S21 has a triple-cam at 64MP, 12Mp and 12MP, while the iPhone 12 comes in with a double-cam at 12MP and 12MP. It has to be said, though, that the software on the latter two is superior, allowing for a wider range of use cases across various activities.
However, getting back to the target market, there is one feature that further defines Oppo’s entry into the lower high-end: the selfie camera on the front of the handset has a 32MP w lens at 24mm wide-angle, compared the S21’s 10MP at 26mm and the iPhone 12’s 12MP at 23mm.
Not yet familiar with the Oppo brand? Not for long …
* Goldstuck is founder of World Wide Worx and editor-in-chief of Gadget.co.za. Follow him on Twitter on @art2gee