Local mobile phones, global OPPO.

On November 21, OPPO held a global launch event in Bali, announcing that the new generation of its annual flagship imaging smartphone series, Find X8, will be sold in countries and regions such as Asia-Pacific, Europe, and Latin America.

The Find X8 Pro (16+512GB) is priced at €1,049 in the UK and €1,249 in Spain, comparable to iPhone prices.

Market data shows that since its launch, sales of the OPPO Find X8 series have exceeded one million units in the Chinese market, making it the highest-selling product in the same period in the history of the Find series.

The Find series, launched in 2011, marks the beginning of OPPO's journey into smartphones. The Find X8 represents OPPO's commitment to product excellence, a breakthrough that will be shared with users worldwide through OPPO's 15 years of overseas expansion.

[Made in China Enters a New Phase of Going Global]

The wave of Chinese enterprises going global began in 1979, during the 1.0 phase, when exports primarily consisted of low-value-added products, exchanging low prices for survival space in overseas markets.

In 2001, after China joined the World Trade Organization, the 2.0 phase began, with manufacturing enterprises mainly engaging in contract manufacturing. Small goods such as clothing and toys became popular globally, but few Chinese brands gained recognition from global consumers.

Since China became the world's second-largest economy in 2010, Made in China has been striving to transform into China Creation and Chinese brands.

After more than a decade of development, in 2023, China's "new trio" of exports – electric vehicles, lithium batteries, and solar cells – surpassed one trillion yuan in value for the first time. Besides these, Chinese-made mobile phones and home appliances are also occupying an increasingly important position in overseas markets.

Among the many domestic brands that have stepped onto the world stage, OPPO, which pioneered its globalization strategy in 2009, has personally experienced and witnessed the entire process of Chinese brands going from zero to one and from weak to strong overseas.

Today, OPPO's presence spans five continents, with business operations in over 70 countries and regions. According to data from the third quarter of 2024, OPPO ranks first in the Southeast Asian market and consistently ranks among the top three in the high-price segment above $500 in 14 countries, including India, Thailand, Vietnam, New Zealand, Belgium, and Portugal.

Chinese brands represented by OPPO, BYD, and Haier have conquered the minds of overseas consumers with high-quality products and exceptional services, marking the entry of Chinese enterprises into the 3.0 phase of going global, encompassing industry, supply chain, and brand expansion.

The global launch of OPPO Find X8 will directly compete with Apple and Samsung, taking a solid step forward on the path of high-value exports for Chinese technology products.

[What is the OPPO Way of Going Global?]

After 15 years of deep cultivation in overseas markets, why has OPPO achieved remarkable results? What can aspiring global brands learn from OPPO?

In 2009, OPPO set sail overseas, starting in Thailand and subsequently establishing a foothold in Indonesia and Vietnam, expanding throughout Southeast Asia and now reaching Europe and Latin America.

From the outset of its overseas expansion, OPPO focused on respecting and exploring local cultures. Nine out of ten members of the team filming micro-movies in Thailand were locals, achieving the goal of "OPPO is local, locals are OPPO."

We know that Thai advertisements are renowned for their creativity, and OPPO's Thai advertisements perfectly showcase the unique charm of Thai ads in terms of shooting style and plot twists. By inviting locally well-known actors, a significant proportion of viewers believed OPPO to be a Thai brand after watching the ads.

Starting from the original intention of "bringing the best products to global users," OPPO has honed a very instructive methodology over its 15 years of going global: "The best globalization is localization."

OPPO's localization goes beyond marketing and is three-dimensional and in-depth, encompassing retail localization, service localization, and manufacturing localization.

After 15 years of unceasing efforts, OPPO has established an intricate network of mobile phone retail stores in overseas markets.

During the "pioneering" period in Southeast Asia, the OPPO team visited local mobile phone stores street by street, leaving no remote location behind. As sales grew and trust deepened, strangers became close friends, and small shop owners grew into distributors, gradually establishing OPPO's direct sales system.

Today, OPPO has over 300,000 retail outlets globally, more than 3,300 self-operated after-sales service stores, and over 60,000 shopping guides who introduce OPPO mobile phones to consumers worldwide every day.

Service is an extension of the product. Even with high-quality products, to provide users with full-cycle product support, OPPO has built nearly 160 after-sales service centers in Indonesia.

Unlike the outsourcing models commonly used in the industry, OPPO directly employs and trains local staff for its overseas after-sales centers. Only in this way can consumers receive localized services that "penetrate the capillaries."

Speaking of localization, OPPO's overseas factories are a concentrated expression of its ability and determination to take root locally and serve globally.

Currently, OPPO has invested in factories in seven countries: India, Indonesia, Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Brazil, and Egypt. While enhancing local manufacturing capabilities, these factories have also created many job opportunities in their host countries.

In 2020, OPPO invested 500 million yuan to build a factory near Indonesia's capital, Jakarta, which successfully commenced production in mid-2022 and added a foldable screen production line in 2023.

Meanwhile, as a mobile phone manufacturer, OPPO has also driven battery, adapter, data cable, and other component suppliers to build factories in Indonesia, cultivating a large number of local skilled workers and managers. Currently, over 95% of local management personnel at OPPO's Indonesian factory are Indonesians.

In May 2021, OPPO's new factory in Istanbul, Turkey, fully commenced production. At that time, it was the only factory locally with CKD (Completely Knocked Down) certification, possessing full production qualifications for products rather than simple assembly of components, solidifying the foundation for OPPO's development in Europe and taking "Made in Turkey" to the world along with OPPO's globalization journey.

Another notable feature of the OPPO way of going global is "product customization," tailoring product solutions to the needs of different markets and users.

Through research on Thai consumers, OPPO learned that local young people need smartphones with excellent selfie capabilities, high-resolution cameras, and ultra-long battery life because they like to share selfies on social platforms.

In response to this demand, OPPO launched localized products equipped with flash charging and high-definition selfie functions, which were well-received by young people in Thailand.

There are many fishermen and sailors in Southeast Asia. Due to ships often docking far from base stations, these users at sea struggled to receive signals from various phone brands until they used OPPO phones, which provided consistent signal reception during voyages, ensuring smooth phone calls.

Behind this consistent signal is the unremitting testing and special optimization by OPPO's R&D team. Furthermore, they have extrapolated this experience to bring smooth calling experiences to users in rubber plantations in Malaysia and coconut groves on Indonesian beaches.

Beyond Southeast Asia, OPPO has also delved into the lively and passionate country of Mexico in Latin America, where people are hospitable and place great importance on family. This Latin American culture is also reflected in Mexicans' demand for mobile phone photography.

Besides capturing people, Mexican users hope to capture both people and scenery clearly because they want to send photos to their families, allowing elderly relatives to see where they are and if they are safe and healthy.

Therefore, OPPO specifically adjusted the camera mode for Mexican users, enhancing the harmonious coexistence of "people and scenery," gaining recognition from local users and securing the third position in the Mexican market.

Remarkably, OPPO holds a 50% market share in the 8,000-10,000 pesos (around 3,000 Chinese yuan) price segment in Mexico, making it the brand with the highest average selling price among all mobile phone brands in Mexico, excluding Apple.

It is evident that as long as good products can address local users' pain points, they will be recognized by the market. As OPPO's Chief Product Officer Liu Zuohu said, "The potential for high-end phones in emerging markets is substantial and has little to do with insufficient consumer purchasing power in these markets."

[Good Products Are a Universal Language]

For 15 years, OPPO has been pursuing high-value exports.

High-end products are the touchstone for going global. In high-end markets such as Europe and the United States, OPPO will inevitably encounter strong competitors like Apple and Samsung.

Good products are a universal language, which is also the confidence behind OPPO Find X8. With new upgrades in portrait photography and AI experience, it will prompt Apple users worldwide to reconsider their choices.

Firstly, there is OPPO's industry-leading portrait photography technology. OPPO's design philosophy for photography is deeply rooted in an understanding of imaging aesthetics, guiding technological development with aesthetics and bringing professional portrait photography to mobile phones, providing users with an ultimate imaging experience.

By automatically adding soft lighting effects, Find X8 enhances facial contours and natural skin tones. It also officially introduces the concept of "environmental portraiture" for the first time, allowing the phone to automatically adjust photo color saturation, contrast, and brightness based on the shooting environment. This ensures that each photo has the correct tone relationship and a film-like texture, particularly suitable for capturing emotional and street portraits.

"Environmental portraiture" transcends the realm of mobile phone photography, capturing the harmonious coexistence of people, scenery, light, and shadow, a direction that OPPO will continue to explore.

Beyond photography, OPPO's AI experience is also filled with surprises.

Find X8's "AI One-Click Screen Inquiry" covers multiple usage scenarios. Users only need to issue voice commands to obtain the desired information and complete tasks such as photo editing and text summarization. The system supports recognizing content both inside and outside the screen and supports continuous inquiry, allowing users to intuitively and conveniently enjoy the convenience brought by AI to work and life.

For example, when seeing a beautiful scenic spot, users can directly ask, "Where is this? What's its story?" Find X8 can instantly provide an answer.

Based on retrieval-enhanced multimodal understanding capabilities, OPPO's AI can layer and analyze a photo, analyzing its subjects one by one. After specialized training on 16,000 scenic spots and millions of data points nationwide, it presents the best answer to users.

Adhering to the long-termism of technological innovation and continuously introducing excellent products that exceed user expectations is the guiding path for Chinese enterprises, represented by OPPO, in the new phase of high-value exports.

After 15 years of setting sail and taking root locally, OPPO has gone from China to the world. In 2023, its global mobile phone sales exceeded 100 million units, accounting for 9% of the global market share, ranking fourth in the world and serving as a model for Chinese enterprises implementing globalization strategies.

Data shows that in 2023, the amount of capital invested by Chinese enterprises going global increased by 11% year-on-year, and the number of enterprises increased by 23%. More and more enterprises aspiring to deeply explore overseas markets are sailing towards the shores of the world along the eye-catching beacons set by OPPO.

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