OnePlus belongs to the family of OPPO and VIVO in the sense that Pete Lau, the founder of OnePlus departed from OPPO to start OnePlus under the umbrella of BBK Electronics.
It is said the Pete Lau might rejoin OPPO in the capacity of the main product Expertise Officer while acting as the Chief Executive Officer at OnePlus. In this new role at OPPO, Pete Lau would be accountable for merchandise planning and development.
It will be interesting to watch how Pete takes on his new role as both OPPO and OnePlus have very different approaches in their sales and marketing strategies. OnePlus has been focussed on improving the online retail experience while OPPO spends its energy on improving the offline retail strategy.
Another interesting thing to note is that OPPO has multiple products under their belt from entry-level to premium, flagship devices while OnePlus has always focussed on a flagship killer smartphone with the exception of the OnePlus 8 Series which is now, in the true sense, a flagship.
But what would Pete Lau’s shift to OPPO while retaining the position of CEO mean for OnePlus? It could well mean that the upcoming OnePlus Z could be a rebranded OPPO. and this would not be a first for companies under the BBK Electronics umbrella.
It was revealed that the new mid-range OnePlus would come equipped with dual front-facing cameras, a first for the Chinese brand. In that light, it could be inferred that the OnePlus Z might look much different than the renders floating around. The 32 MP + 8 MP setup was leaked by an insider and first reported by Android Central.
Based on prior leaks, the OnePlus Z will be powered by a Snapdragon 765G SoC and have a 90Hz AMOLED display (which at this point). OnePlus has confirmed that the phone will be launched in Europe and India initially. As far as the information on the cost of the OnePlus Z goes, a teaser from Carl Pei last week hinted at a $299 price for the base model, which would roughly translate to about Rs 25,000 in India.
Now considering all this, it is likely that the OnePlus Z could be a rebranded OPPO Reno4 5G, and considering all the hints OnePlus dropped about going back to where they started, both the OnePlus One and OPPO Find7A do share a similar pedigree and many say that the OnePlus One did use the OPPO to build the first flagship killer. Does this mean that Pete Lau will bring a rebranded OPPO to OnePlus’s stable? We’ll have to wait till July 10th to find out!