OnePlus-Oppo Merger: Impacts

I bought OnePlus 6 way back in 2018, and still using it as my primary phone. I didn't buy another second smartphone til 2020, or didn't upgrade OnePlus 6 as my mobile photography goes pretty fine with OP6. Yes I bought few lens as add-on and they just enlarge the vision of two cameras of OP6. 

As days go by, I must say OnePlus has been able promote themselves as a global company with a market in US - thanks to their Android fork, OxygenOS. 

In the  of June '21 we got the news of merger between OnePlus & Oppo. This is a kind of shock to many OnePlus fanboys - kind of insecurity feeling was propelled among them. Soon after the merger, it's been announced that OnePlus will be a subsidiary of Oppo but will act independently. And we also came to know that the source codes of the OxygenOS and ColorOS will be merged. 

OnePlus has said few points regarding this merger officially. These are: 

• OnePlus devices sold outside China will continue to run on Oxygen OS. 
• Some teams will be combined for streamlined operations. 
• OnePlus will continue to operate independently.

Though Oppo sells good number of smartphones in India, I personally don't like Oppo's software - ColorOS and there are many people like me. In last 1-2 years Oppo was the testbod company and many of their tested & tried features got polished and onboarded into OnePlus. 

First thing is first, OnePlus has its Oppo DNA from the very first. 

In 2013 Carl Pei and ex-Oppo engineer Pete Lau founded OnePlus with a vision to bring better smartphones. Main investor was Oppo Digital, backed by BBK Electronics. BBK holds a bigger pie of Chinese smartphone brands, as it owns Oppo, Vivo, OnePlus, Realme & iQoo. 

In September 2020 Carl left OnePlus and started new venture 'Nothing'. During the similar timeframe OnePlus CEP Pete Lau took on an extra role, as SVP of OPLUS. OPLUS is an investment firm which takes care of OnePlus, Oppo and Realme. 

In January 2021, OnePlus announced they will merge their R&D and hardware teams with those of Oppo in an effort to “better maximize resources.” 

Business direction changed: From Flagship Killer to Flagship Maker

Since its inception OnePlus has its own fanboys or enthusiasts, and the company was releasing flagship killers - the smartphones with best processor in the market but priced nearly 30-40% off than the flagships from Samsung, LG, Asus or HTC. But over last 2-3 years OnePlus is changing its focus - they now want to make profit as well as want to sit alongside the top brands. 'Change is the only constant.' - well we already knew of it, right? The company, though backed by an excellent community of enthusiasts, wants go mainstream.

If I put myself in those OnePlus fanboys' gang - the change of focus is quite perfect. The point is as days go by, the income of the people increases. The fanboys turn fan-gentlemen and the company expects that they should pay more for the top smartphone - for eg, for now its OnePlus 9 Pro. 

Those still wants to play tight on the pockets, OnePlus takes care of them too - OnePlus 9 and 9R is there. Even the company looks into the youngsters - Nord is the sub brand for this purpose only. 

OPPO's Gain

1. Entry in US/Better brand position in European & other markets. 

It should be noted that OnePlus is a globally recognized brand, despite being originated from China, while Oppo does not have a market in US. 

2. Improvement in ColorOS

3. Better products from Oppo 

OnePlus - Room for improvement but really sky is the limit or what? 

OxygenOS has its DNA from CyanogenMods, though OnePlus had a bitter split from it and after the split they built OxygenOS. But it needs some changes, Oppo backed ColorOS can give it that changes. 

From the users' PoV what we can see:

• Better software on Oppo Phones in future. ColorOS is not my list of good Android forks. And OxygenOS has its room for improvement. Also as R&D is merged we can expect faster software updates. 
• Better service network - OnePlus has fewer offline presence, but Oppo has better ground activity. So definitely after sales services will improve a lot. Not only that repairing a phone will be easier as they will have a single channel to import parts of the phones. 
• As the two companies R&D division merged, expect more innovation in the market.
• We can expect more similar devices from Oppo and OnePlus. We already have seen this kind of business model from Xiaomi - as their three smartphone brands, Mi, Redmi and Poco work in a development process. 
• For the OnePlus fanboys, I am not seeing OxygenOS is dead or sometime similar in next 1 year. Rather I am excited to see the change in OxygenOS, provided I would buy my next phone as OnePlus device.