Chinese smartphone giant Oppo is said to be planning to exit the German market. Reports suggest that Oppo is currently undertaking a major restructuring of its German organisation. Details on the background of the move remain unclear. Oppo has not confirmed the reports. According to journalist Max Jambor, Oppo is also planning to withdraw from France and the Netherlands. Oppo and Vivo are both part of the larger Chinese electronics group BBK Electronics. The situation is complicated in Germany as Oppo and OnePlus mobile phones were banned from sale there last year due to patent disputes with Nokia.
The smartphone market has been in decline for a number of years. Last year, a little over 1.2 billion smartphones were sold across the world, representing an 11% drop from 2021. This marked the lowest volume of sales since 2013, with the IDC predicting a further 18% drop expected in Q4 of 2022 when compared to the same period in 2021. Oppo is one of the companies worst hit by the decline. In 2022, it saw almost 23% fewer smartphone sales than in 2021, with its market share shrinking from 9.8% to 8.6%.
Since both Oppo and OnePlus are part of the BBK Electronics group, it remains to be seen if the reported comments made by a spokesperson for OnePlus – who insisted the company would remain in the UK and Europe – also pertain to mobile phones produced by Oppo.
