Oppo Working On In-House Smartphone Processor: What To Expect?

Oppo is said to be developing in-house processors for its smartphones. Reports reveal an internal memo shared with Oppo employees about working on self-developed chips. Moreover, a trademark listing filed with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) further suggests that the first Oppo in-house chip will be called Oppo M1.

Oppo Smartphone Processor

The Oppo internal letter states Mariana Plan for self-developed chips reports CNBeta. However, the Mariana Plan isn't something new. Some of Oppo's previous internal documents were circulated with the same initiative and reported last year as well. Reports also suggest that Oppo has hired engineers from Spreadtrum and MediaTek to develop the first processing chip for Oppo.

The report also says that the company is having Yan Chen, who previously worked as a principal engineer at Qualcomm Ventures, leading the chip-making team to work on projects like Oppo M1, Hawkey chips, and so on. Chen is believed to have worked on Qualcomm SH Android development processes. He was also an important asset for Xiaomi, Huawei, and Oppo to deploy the Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 SoC on the devices.

Previously, Oppo founder and CEO Tony Chen talked about CNY 50 billion investments into research and development for core technologies in software, hardware, and system over the next three years.

Developing In-House Chips

The proprietary chip places Oppo in the same league as other Chinese manufacturers like Huawei and Xiaomi. Huawei already has its proprietary HiSilicon Kirin range of mobile processors. It serves as an alternative for processors developed by Qualcomm and MediaTek. It also makes Huawei independent of US companies, given the US-China trade war.

Xiaomi is attempting to develop an in-house processor and even brought out the Surge S1 SoC. The company launched the Mi 5c smartphone with the in-house chip. However, given the low success rate, Xiaomi didn't launch the smartphone in other markets except for China.

Developing in-house processors are an advantage for smartphone makers. Mainly, it reduces the dependence on other companies like Qualcomm and MediaTek. If Oppo could successfully hit off the new processor, it would be advantageous for the company, which could result in a price drop in various markets, including India.