China Regulatory Board: OnePlus Owned By Oppo

So how did OnePlus go from a startup that had not released a single product in any market, to one about to drop a competitive product that undercuts the big boys of a hyper competitive industry in dozens of markets? Perhaps, by being funded by the most profitable phone maker in China.

According to Chinese media outlets, documents from China’s regulatory board show that OnePlus is actually a wholly owned subsidiary of Oppo. It probably shouldn’t be surprising, OnePlus was created by former Oppo executive Peter Lau. But OnePlus was allegedly created to break away from the established companies and become something “different.”

Now, it appears that Oppo is the primary stockholder in OnePlus, which would explain how they were able to set up distribution centers all around the world, seemingly out of nowhere. OnePlus has yet to respond to the allegations officially.

If true, why a company would be grooming a potential competitor is unclear.

We have reached out to OnePlus for an official comment.

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This is another in a series of controversies following the young company as it releases its first flagship phone. The OnePlus One, which shares a lot visually with Oppo’s Find 7, “launched” on April 23rd, although that is a liberal use of the word. At present time, no one can buy the phone and the only way anyone can get their hands on one, is by signing up to be one of the 100 customers selected to smash their current phones on video. After that, the phone will be sold only to those that receive an invite.

Eventually though, the phone will be available to the public, and when it is, it will start at $299. Which, considering its high end specs and global availability, will be a huge accomplishment for the young startup if they pull it off.

That is, if they are in fact a “young startup.”

[Via: PhoneArena] [Source: Techweb]

Disclaimer: We may be compensated by some of the companies whose products we talk about, but our articles and reviews are always our honest opinions. For more details, you can check out our editorial guidelines and learn about how we use affiliate links.

Marco
April 27, 2014
IMHO , Oppo didn’t get enough attentions internationally , so is trying with another brand fixing mistakes they done until now . Good phones but overpriced , One Plus One is the excuse .
- April 27, 2014
  OnePlus was formed way before the Find 7 launched, so no it is not an excuse but a similar device which should be able to buy the everyday geek (instead of the Chinese tech enthusiast)
  - April 27, 2014
    They knew from day one that they were offering a Find7a variant. They flat out lied about designing a new phone.
    What’s not clear is if Oppo originally intended to ship the Find 7a under their own brand or not. It seems that they only shipped the Find 7a variant because they are having supply problems with the 2K screen for the Find 7. Without the Find 7a there would be more differentiation between the Find 7 and OPO.

desponent
April 27, 2014
I don’t understand, won’t this phone completely cannibalize their Oppo’s offering?
Though that does explain the limited availability and all the “exclusive” “invitation” bs.
Darren
April 27, 2014
It is just business. Left pocket, right pocket, as long as it is my pocket…
Cuerex
April 27, 2014
why does everyone call him peter when his name is pete?

Allanitomwesh
April 27, 2014
Not exactly surprising really. OPPO have the deep pockets to fund such an ambitious project. One does not simply build a flagship killer.
Marco
April 27, 2014
IMHO , Oppo didn’t get enough attentions internationally , so is trying with another brand fixing mistakes they done until now . Good phones but overpriced , One Plus One is the excuse .
- Yash Garg
  April 27, 2014
  OnePlus was formed way before the Find 7 launched, so no it is not an excuse but a similar device which should be able to buy the everyday geek (instead of the Chinese tech enthusiast)
- Dave Weinstein
  April 27, 2014
  They knew from day one that they were offering a Find7a variant. They flat out lied about designing a new phone.
  What’s not clear is if Oppo originally intended to ship the Find 7a under their own brand or not. It seems that they only shipped the Find 7a variant because they are having supply problems with the 2K screen for the Find 7. Without the Find 7a there would be more differentiation between the Find 7 and OPO.

AhmadCentral
April 27, 2014
Well this makes sense really…
Yury
April 27, 2014
- Yury
  April 27, 2014
  OPPO + ONEPLUS + VIVO vs XIAOMI
  ))))))))0

The Chosen One
April 27, 2014
Come on people its all marketing and business strategy. An established big brand either buys up a lesser competitor or funds a literally new startup, where, the developers are given free reign via which they can implement new ideas that are totally alien to the big brands manufacturing ideology and philosophy.
The smart bit of marketing is when One+ asked us what we wanted to see in a smartphone, so, to some extent, the people that replied have the right to say that One+ built the peoples phone and by proxy the peoples phone was built by Oppo.
So with this maneuver Oppo has cornered another part of a growing market that they deem very very important to their financial evolutionary survival.
The brand One+ would only cease to exist if it doesn’t turn a viable and self sustaining profit.
Business acumen at its best!
- desponent
  April 27, 2014
  And completely kill all their phone offering with the same price range with One Plus One and above, which is where most phone manufacturer make the profit.
  - The Chosen One
    April 28, 2014
    Oppo is still gonna make their money regardless.
    1) Those loyal to the brand from its inception will still make purchases.
    2) Others looking for something new when compared to their own personal norm and may prefer Oppo’s specs and offerings would make purchases.
    3) New customers willing to choose them based on product quality and Oppo’s longevity in the smartphone business will make purchases as well
    4) People who are tired of big brand pricing and would love to buck the trend and make a statement with their purchase choice, well, Oppo seemed to have created the One+ for them, through input from them to some extent.
    So no matter the type of consumer Oppo is going to make their money regardless
    - desponent
      April 28, 2014
      1) Yes loyalty, that’s why Nokia and RIM are still on the top of this industry today lol
      2) There are barely anything that separate OPO with Find 7 and money can be deciding factor as demonstrated by Moto G success
      3) How many people are there going to be like those? And is Oppo even big enough brand to consider on their quality and “longevity” compared to other bigger brand like Samsung. (Answer: looking at ww sales, no)
      4) Wut? What the heck is your point?
      Yes, they’re going to make money but it’s going to be a whole lot less if not played right. That’s why they have to severely limit the availability of One Plus One.
      - The Chosen One
        April 28, 2014
        You’ve missed point #3. Oppo is one of the top brands in China if not the #1 brand bar none so their longevity there in China is already proven.
        There isn’t a business on the planet that isn’t geared towards gaining new customers while maintaining the base of customers that they do have.
        If Oppo, Samsung and the others didnt gain new first time customers quarter after quarter they wouldn’t last 18mths in business this is proven by company and product growth year over year.
        As for point #4 most consumers think that the more expensive an item is then it has to be of better build quality and performance, both of which are incorrect.
        Then there are those who know the truth of the preceding and wouldn’t chase behind any big brands hence the “never settle” strategy with the marketing, the invited public input on what the 1+ specs should contain and then finally the creation of the unit.
        As for availability, for the past 9mths if not more there hasn’t been a phone launched that had at least 25thousand available units at launch.
        Every brand has launched, sold out and restocked with others, established brands as well, not even having actual units available but instead going the presale route.
        So the unavailability of the 1+ is the current business trend in the Chinese market.
        With all things considered Oppo is going to maintain and grow its conventional customer base while through the One+ they’re making a play at the market share of people who shop for big brand performance and build quality for a lower and fair price.
        After all $699 – $899, depending on merchant, for an unlocked 16GB Samsung Galaxy S5 isn’t fair when it costs at least $265 to build.

desponent
April 27, 2014
I don’t understand, won’t this phone completely cannibalize their Oppo’s offering?
Though that does explain the limited availability and all the “exclusive” “invitation” bs.
Guest
April 27, 2014
It is just business. Left pocket, right pocket, as long as it is my pocket…

Dave Weinstein
April 27, 2014
I’ve noticed that Oppo hasn’t said ANYTHING about Cyanogen support for the Find 7, and I have a bad feeling that it’s not going to be officially supported. In fact, Oppo has been talking about porting ColorOS to competing hardware. The idea of running Color OS on a Samsung phone seems like a fantasy that only the management of Oppo would want. No consumer would care or go to the trouble of installing it.
I suspect that what happened is that Pete Lau was the internal champion from CM on Oppo hardware, and that the initiative went with him to OnePlus. It seems to be the main differentiator between the Find 7a and the OPO.
It’s quite disappointing that OnePlus wasn’t honest. The true story is compelling enough, and there was no way the lies weren’t going to be uncovered.
It’s also a bit disappointing that OnePlus is owned by Oppo rather than Oppo’s parent (BBK). If it was on the same level as Oppo and Vivo, then One Plus could get access to hardware from both companies. They’d also have a bit more leverage with respect for which devices they are “allowed” to have.
So, overall it’s a bad situation. The ones with the sane OS strategy are OnePlus, but the guys controlling the hardware are Oppo. And to top it off, they set it up with the fiction that they are NOT related, and want us to pretend that their lies are true. There won’t be CM on other Oppo hardware, since they promised the “CM market” to OnePlus, but OnePlus will not get the full range of Oppo hardware. The Oppo side’s pullback from CM will kill the lead they had in the open source community. The Find 5 is the most supported Chinese phone for open source OSes. I suspect that with this crap going on between OnePlus and Oppo, that the Find 7 won’t even get on the list.

Paul Koutras
April 27, 2014
I really don’t care that Oppo owns them. All that matters is if the device works well. It’s all business and all of the mobile players are lying about something on some level. All of this hype has been great as it has shown people how badly they are getting gouged by the big name brands.
Allanitomwesh
April 27, 2014
Not exactly surprising really. OPPO have the deep pockets to fund such an ambitious project. One does not simply build a flagship killer.

AhmadCentral
April 27, 2014
Well this makes sense really…
Guest
April 27, 2014
- Guest
  April 27, 2014
  OPPO + ONEPLUS + VIVO vs XIAOMI
  ))))))))0

The Chosen One
April 27, 2014
Come on people its all marketing and business strategy. An established big brand either buys up a lesser competitor or funds a literally new startup, where, the developers are given free reign via which they can implement new ideas that are totally alien to the big brands manufacturing ideology and philosophy.
The smart bit of marketing is when One+ asked us what we wanted to see in a smartphone, so, to some extent, the people that replied have the right to say that One+ built the peoples phone and by proxy the peoples phone was built by Oppo.
So with this maneuver Oppo has cornered another part of a growing market that they deem very very important to their financial evolutionary survival.
The brand One+ would only cease to exist if it doesn’t turn a viable and self sustaining profit.
Business acumen at its best!
- desponent
  April 27, 2014
  And completely kill all their phone offering with the same price range with One Plus One and above, which is where most phone manufacturer make the profit.
- The Chosen One
  April 28, 2014
  Oppo is still gonna make their money regardless.
  1) Those loyal to the brand from its inception will still make purchases.
  2) Others looking for something new when compared to their own personal norm and may prefer Oppo’s specs and offerings would make purchases.
  3) New customers willing to choose them based on product quality and Oppo’s longevity in the smartphone business will make purchases as well
  4) People who are tired of big brand pricing and would love to buck the trend and make a statement with their purchase choice, well, Oppo seemed to have created the One+ for them, through input from them to some extent.
  So no matter the type of consumer Oppo is going to make their money regardless
- desponent
  April 28, 2014
  1) Yes loyalty, that’s why Nokia and RIM are still on the top of this industry today lol
  2) There are barely anything that separate OPO with Find 7 and money can be deciding factor as demonstrated by Moto G success
  3) How many people are there going to be like those? And is Oppo even big enough brand to consider on their quality and “longevity” compared to other bigger brand like Samsung. (Answer: looking at ww sales, no)
  4) Wut? What the heck is your point?
  Yes, they’re going to make money but it’s going to be a whole lot less if not played right. That’s why they have to severely limit the availability of One Plus One.
- The Chosen One
  April 28, 2014
  You’ve missed point #3. Oppo is one of the top brands in China if not the #1 brand bar none so their longevity there in China is already proven.
  There isn’t a business on the planet that isn’t geared towards gaining new customers while maintaining the base of customers that they do have.
  If Oppo, Samsung and the others didnt gain new first time customers quarter after quarter they wouldn’t last 18mths in business this is proven by company and product growth year over year.
  As for point #4 most consumers think that the more expensive an item is then it has to be of better build quality and performance, both of which are incorrect.
  Then there are those who know the truth of the preceding and wouldn’t chase behind any big brands hence the “never settle” strategy with the marketing, the invited public input on what the 1+ specs should contain and then finally the creation of the unit.
  As for availability, for the past 9mths if not more there hasn’t been a phone launched that had at least 25thousand available units at launch.
  Every brand has launched, sold out and restocked with others, established brands as well, not even having actual units available but instead going the presale route.
  So the unavailability of the 1+ is the current business trend in the Chinese market.
  With all things considered Oppo is going to maintain and grow its conventional customer base while through the One+ they’re making a play at the market share of people who shop for big brand performance and build quality for a lower and fair price.
  After all $699 – $899, depending on merchant, for an unlocked 16GB Samsung Galaxy S5 isn’t fair when it costs at least $265 to build.

Dave Weinstein
April 27, 2014
I’ve noticed that Oppo hasn’t said ANYTHING about Cyanogen support for the Find 7, and I have a bad feeling that it’s not going to be officially supported. In fact, Oppo has been talking about porting ColorOS to competing hardware. The idea of running Color OS on a Samsung phone seems like a fantasy that only the management of Oppo would want. No consumer would care or go to the trouble of installing it.
I suspect that what happened is that Pete Lau was the internal champion from CM on Oppo hardware, and that the initiative went with him to OnePlus. It seems to be the main differentiator between the Find 7a and the OPO.
It’s quite disappointing that OnePlus wasn’t honest. The true story is compelling enough, and there was no way the lies weren’t going to be uncovered.
It’s also a bit disappointing that OnePlus is owned by Oppo rather than Oppo’s parent (BBK). If it was on the same level as Oppo and Vivo, then One Plus could get access to hardware from both companies. They’d also have a bit more leverage with respect for which devices they are “allowed” to have.
So, overall it’s a bad situation. The ones with the sane OS strategy are OnePlus, but the guys controlling the hardware are Oppo. And to top it off, they set it up with the fiction that they are NOT related, and want us to pretend that their lies are true. There won’t be CM on other Oppo hardware, since they promised the “CM market” to OnePlus, but OnePlus will not get the full range of Oppo hardware. The Oppo side’s pullback from CM will kill the lead they had in the open source community. The Find 5 is the most supported Chinese phone for open source OSes. I suspect that with this crap going on between OnePlus and Oppo, that the Find 7 won’t even get on the list.

Pedro Miguel
April 27, 2014
Stupid discussion.
Chico Migraña
April 27, 2014
Years algo you could find a brand called Magnavox , a little brother of Phillips(in fact an older brother) , same quality, more cheaper but for electronics.Think its kinda the same. I wont buy Oppo or 1+1 just because Andy got a ghosty screen Oppo Find 7. Now i dont trust them and i am so far from China to return a faulty cellphone.
I will better wait some time for Xiaomi Mi3s

Paul Koutras
April 27, 2014
I really don’t care that Oppo owns them. All that matters is if the device works well. It’s all business and all of the mobile players are lying about something on some level. All of this hype has been great as it has shown people how badly they are getting gouged by the big name brands.
njren
April 27, 2014
This is news? Pretty clear from the get-go. You can work a lot of manufacturing miracles in China, but designing, building, testing, and shipping a brand-new phone in such a short time doesn’t happen without a lot of “help”. As an earlier comment stated, Vivo, Oppo, OnePlus, whoever, are just covering the bases. Vivo is staying in China and has strong appeal among women. The OnePlus concept is probably what Oppo should have targeted from the beginning of their international push. That leaves Oppo as a catch-all brand, albeit with premium pricing. They’re also heading for a bit of an identity crisis since, in China at least, they share with Vivo a strong appeal among women. They also have their well-established name in SE Asia, but for the rest of the world the way forward isn’t so clear with OnePlus acting like proverbial bull in the china shop.

Pedro Miguel
April 27, 2014
Stupid discussion.
Ricardo A.
April 27, 2014
Years algo you could find a brand called Magnavox , a little brother of Phillips(in fact an older brother) , same quality, more cheaper but for electronics.Think its kinda the same. I wont buy Oppo or 1+1 just because Andy got a ghosty screen Oppo Find 7. Now i dont trust them and i am so far from China to return a faulty cellphone.
I will better wait some time for Xiaomi Mi3s
Danial
April 28, 2014

Guest
April 28, 2014
This is news? Pretty clear from the get-go. You can work a lot of manufacturing miracles in China, but designing, building, testing, and shipping a brand-new phone in such a short time doesn’t happen without a lot of “help”. As an earlier comment stated, Vivo, Oppo, OnePlus, whoever, are just covering the bases. Vivo is staying in China and has strong appeal among women. The OnePlus concept is probably what Oppo should have targeted from the beginning of their international push. That leaves Oppo as a catch-all brand, albeit with premium pricing. They’re also heading for a bit of an identity crisis since, in China at least, they share with Vivo a strong appeal among women. They also have their well-established name in SE Asia, but for the rest of the world the way forward isn’t so clear with OnePlus acting like proverbial bull in the china shop.

Danial
April 28, 2014
eekiguy2
April 28, 2014
Why posting this non-news, everybody knows already One Plus is Oppo.
One Plue One = OPO, 1 + 1 = 2, OPO + 2 = OPO2
Common its so obvious.
Seems Oppo has run out of steam hyping the One so now we get to read these non-news.
After Xiaomi’s non-buy products its now all about who makes the most dirty marketing to hit the headlines…. so sad 🙁

eekiguy2
April 29, 2014
Why posting this non-news, everybody knows already One Plus is Oppo.
One Plue One = OPO, 1 + 1 = 2, OPO + 2 = OPO2
Common its so obvious.
Seems Oppo has run out of steam hyping the One so now we get to read these non-news.
After Xiaomi’s non-buy products its now all about who makes the most dirty marketing to hit the headlines…. so sad 🙁
iANDROID8.1
April 29, 2014
IUNI is also a sub-brand of Gionee :3
iANDROID8.1
April 29, 2014
IUNI is also a sub-brand of Gionee :3

scgz
May 27, 2014
I don’t get why everyone is getting so upset? By this logic all the apple fanboys should be angry with angry cause Microsoft owns a stake in them. lol
scgz
May 27, 2014
I don’t get why everyone is getting so upset? By this logic should all the apple fan boys should be angry with Apple cause Microsoft owns a stake in them? lol

Guest
May 27, 2014
I don’t get why everyone is getting so upset? By this logic all the apple fanboys should be angry with angry cause Microsoft owns a stake in them. lol
Guest
May 27, 2014
I don’t get why everyone is getting so upset? By this logic should all the apple fan boys should be angry with Apple cause Microsoft owns a stake in them? lol

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