DONGGUAN, Guangdong, China-based Oppo Electronics Corp. recently announced it will begin selling locally its new smartphone in the middle of the month.
“The OPPO F1 Plus has been making rounds online, especially now that its global rollout has started after successful launches in key markets such as India,” the company said in a statement on April 7. “The images posted on social networks imply that the F1 Plus’s front-shooter doubles the pixel count of the previously launched F1 at 16 megapixels.”
Oppo said the F1 Plus would have a bigger screen, narrow side bezels and a metal body.
The company, however, didn’t disclose how much it would sell the new device. Oppo’s launch in the Philippines comes after the International Data Corp. (IDC) said total smartphone shipments in Southeast Asia (Sea) hit slightly over 100 million units in 2015, posting a year-over-year (YoY) growth of 22 percent.
“All the emerging markets in SEA witnessed double-digit growth YoY, with the exception of Singapore, the only mature market to record an approximate 5 percent YoY decline,” IDC said. The Philippines is the third-largest market, accounting for 14 percent of the total Sea market. Indonesia remains the largest market, accounting for nearly 29 percent, followed by Thailand at 22 percent.
According to Jensen Ooi, market analyst for Client Devices-IDC Malaysia, “global vendors that took a hit when the China-based vendors entered the market have managed to regain part of their dominance, as they brought in devices suitably priced for the budget-conscious consumers in the region.”
“Furthermore, local players gained share, particularly in Thailand, where local mobile operators partnered with smartphone vendors as part of a rushed initiative to convert their 2G network subscribers to the 3G network over the last few quarters,” Ooi said.
Still, Oppo has become the brand with the fourth-largest shipment volume last year for Southeast Asia, just trailing Apple, according to IDC. The IDC even noted that while Oppo’s Average Selling Price (ASP) posted a YoY decline, “its ASP was still higher than that of Huawei, with its R7 doing well in 2015.”
Brand Marketing Officer Morrys Sarmiento, however, told the BusinessMirror earlier the company’s success last year is not based on ASP but on “our product-oriented strategy.”
“Our devices will be more competitive in terms of price point, performance and overall experience,” Sarmiento said in an e-mail. “In short, we will focus more on bringing value for money.”
