The mix of OnePlus and Oppo has been going slowly for years. Now, however, businesses are essentially becoming an entity.
The OnePlus contradiction is complete
Towards the end of last year, we published an opinion piece titled “The OnePlus Contradiction Worsens”. Basically, the article claimed that OnePlus is slowly transforming into Oppo. We mark the departure of co-founder Carl Pei and the introduction of Oppo’s blatant rebranding as important touchstones.
Now we have news from OnePlus CEO and co-founder Pete Lau that the company is entering a new phase which he has called “OnePlus 2.0”. However, I consider this to be a misnomer. From what Lau has told us so far, it’s not OnePlus 2.0, but “OppoPlus 1.0”.
Lau argues that Oxygen OS either exists by name only or is simply being replaced by an unnamed unified operating system that will land on OnePlus and Oppo phones. The engineering and development teams that were once individual at OnePlus and Oppo are now fully merged. Significantly, the only teams that haven’t merged are the PR teams, who will continue to work individually on their respective brands.
The writing is on the wall. The OnePlus Oppoification we were talking about last year is now over, it’s the end of an era.
But OnePlus has always been Oppo, right?
Those of you who have read this and followed the OnePlus trajectory probably think the OnePlus and the Oppo have always been interchangeable. He “inspired” him.
While I agree that OnePlus has been on Oppo’s back from the start, OnePlus quickly became a thing of its own. Their products had a unique style, their software was very different, and their brand and “attitude” contrasted sharply with Oppos. For me, OnePlus was similar to Joaquin Phoenix’s portrayal of the Joker – it made the role incredible, despite the obvious inspiration from Heath Ledger’s earlier portrayal of the same character.
Those of you who have read this and followed the OnePlus trajectory probably think the OnePlus and the Oppo have always been interchangeable. Despite what both companies claim to the contrary, it’s easy to draw straight lines between a OnePlus product and the Oppo product that “inspired” it.
While I agree that OnePlus has been on Oppo’s back from the start, OnePlus quickly became a thing of its own. Their products had a unique style, their software was very different, and their brand and “attitude” contrasted sharply with Oppos. For me, OnePlus was similar to Joaquin Phoenix’s portrayal of the Joker – it made the role incredible, despite the obvious inspiration from Heath Ledger’s earlier portrayal of the same character.
Now, however, Lau seems to be moving away from that unique identity as quickly as possible. In fact, he even made a short documentary about it. Under the headline “New Journey”, the article deals with the move of OnePlus employees to new offices shared with Oppo employees. It’s as depressing and boring as it sounds. Most telling, however, is that there is a section where a OnePlus employee describes the brand’s early days as “dangerous” and admits that the identity no longer exists. as the.
I’m sure Lau has reason to start this huge transition. Maybe OnePlus is not doing well enough financially. You may think that getting rid of the “dangerous” aspects of the business will make it more successful in the long run. So many questions.