Oppo To Join Custom Chip Race: Likely To Launch First SoC By 2024

Amidst the global chipset shortage, brands are now considering designing their own chipset to decrease dependency on other chipmakers. From Apple launching new MacBook Pros with the M1 Pro and the M1 Max processors to the Pixel 6 with the Tensor chip, most brands are now going independent when it comes to SoCs.

According to the latest report from NikkeiAsia, Oppo is the next company to join that race and is said to launch Oppo smartphones powered by in-house processors by 2023 or 2024. As developing a new chipset is a lot complicated than designing a smartphone, it now looks like the company has been working on the same over the last few years.

The report also confirms that Oppo is likely to leverage TSMC's upcoming 3nm fabrication technology. This means, in terms of power efficiency, Oppo's offering will be in line with the competition, as TSMC is also expected to manufacture upcoming SoCs for brands like Apple, Qualcomm, MediaTek, and even Google.

Do note that, Oppo has been making steady investments in chipset development starting from 2019, and the company has also worked closely with brands like Qualcomm, which is currently the leading high-end chipset provider for Android devices.

When it comes to Android smartphone markers, Oppo is a conglomerate that consists of sub-brands like Realme and OnePlus. Not just that, the brand that owns Oppo -- BBK Electronics is also the parent company of the brands like Vivo and iQOO.

A Huge Challenge For Oppo

Given Oppo has a lot of brands under its forte, if it succeeds in making smartphone SoCs, it could easily become one of the biggest smartphone SoC makers globally. This means, the sub-brands like OnePlus, Realme, Vivo, and even iQOO might even launch with the custom Oppo processors.

Do note that, brands like Samsung, Huawei, and Apple have seen huge success with their custom processors. And we are yet to see the performance of Google's in-house Tensor chip. However, companies like Xiaomi haven't been able to do much in the SoC segment, despite making a huge investment in the same. Oppo is yet to comment on this, as the company might be planning to make some grand announcement regarding the same.

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