Chinese mobile phone manufacturer OPPO has confirmed that it will be launching in the UK officially in January 2019. This company is at the forefront of smartphone development and innovation but is a relatively unknown brand outside of China. Xiaomi also recently launched in the UK, and it seems that Oppo is following close behind.

Oppo has been around since 2001 and expanded slowly throughout the world. In 2016 they were the top smartphone manufacturer in China, and are currently the 5th biggest manufacturer in the world by market share, after Samsung, Huawei, Apple, and Xiaomi. In the last quarter of 2018, Oppo shipped over 29.9 million smartphones and over 100 million smartphones in 2017. Chinese smartphone manufacturers are becoming increasingly common in markets such as Europe, India, Latin America, and Africa.

Oppo first became internationally recognised when the Oppo Find X phone was released, “one of the first phones to have no bezel whatsoever, even hiding the front-facing camera behind the screen”. This was called “stealth 3D cameras’ by Oppo, because the camera is hidden until you want to take a photo, and then the back of the handset extends a camera out from behind the screen. Oppo’s generally unusual and interesting features were cutting-edge for the smartphone market, and other companies are only beginning to catch up now in 2019.

Which carriers will have Oppo phones is as yet uncertain, but large carriers will definitely begin to adopt the phones after the launch and begin to allow their plans to be used. For example, a representative from MoneyPug, a website used to compare mobile phone deals from different manufacturers, notes that “Vodafone is likely to be one of the mobile carriers to offer OPPO phones” in the UK, due to their already-existing contracts in Australia.

What Kind of Phones does Oppo Offer?

The hottest Oppo phone that people are buzzing about is the RX17 Pro. The RX17 is an upper-midrange phone with a glass screen and aluminum frame. The AMOLED display screen is tall and wide, covering most of the phone’s front, leaving only thin bezels around the edge. The RX17 uses both fingerprint or facial recognition unlocking methods, which look and feel high-tech and modern. The Find X was revolutionary, but was missing the fingerprint unlock availability; Oppo’s inclusion of this in their new models is also done in an innovative way, allowing the user to press their finger against the screen itself rather than the unlock button.

Oppo’s most recent phone is the K-series K1, released in October 2018. Like other manufacturers, Oppo produces several series of phones, including low-end and high-end models for different consumers.

Oppo will release the RX17 Pro in the UK on the 29th of January, and until then details are unclear about exactly what features and specs it will include for the UK market. The company has already registered over 40 trademarks for smartphones to be sold in the UK and Europe, so it’s likely that they will have a large number of offerings for customers.

The launch of Oppo in the UK is another welcome player to the market, one that will bring prices for consumers down, and allow greater choice when purchasing a new smartphone. As a global and well-respected manufacturer in China, those in the UK can look forward to another competitor on the market.