On January 7, multiple media outlets reported that the smartphone brand realme would return to OPPO as a sub-brand.

Tide TI has confirmed this news with relevant OPPO personnel.

"This is to further synergize operations and integrate resources... In the future, OPPO, realme, and OnePlus will jointly provide global users with more innovative and differentiated products, as well as more convenient and thoughtful services," said the aforementioned individual.

Interface News also pointed out in its report that after realme's return to OPPO, it would merge with OnePlus. realme CEO Li Bingzhong (Sky Li) will lead the overall sub-brand business, while the responsibilities of Li Jie, President of OnePlus China, will remain unchanged.

Subsequently, OnePlus will focus on the domestic and some overseas online markets, with non-Chinese overseas markets being served by realme and the main brand OPPO.

From the available information, realme's return to OPPO has not yet involved deeper-level executive changes or organizational structural adjustments.

realme's new products will also be released as scheduled and will fully integrate into OPPO's after-sales service system. realme officially announced on January 5 that its first new product of 2026, the realme Neo 8, will be released this month.

01

From OnePlus to realme: Different market environments, similar return scripts

The market is not unfamiliar with realme's return to OPPO, as OnePlus has followed a similar path:

Under different market environments, core executives left the OPPO system to start their own businesses independently, achieved certain successes, and were recognized by the market before returning to the OPPO fold.

Even in terms of timing, there is a subtle coincidence between OnePlus and realme, from their separate establishment to their return to the main brand OPPO. Liu Zuohu founded OnePlus in late 2013, and in June 2021, the OnePlus team merged with the OPPO team, with OnePlus becoming a sub-brand of OPPO. In mid-2018, Li Bingzhong began operating the realme brand as an independent company, and its return to OPPO now, after just over seven years, also marks a significant milestone.

Compared to this insignificant coincidence, what matters more is that from OnePlus to realme, when they have taken similar routes under different market environments, what is OPPO's "unspoken strategy"?

OnePlus rose during the heyday of smartphones. When OPPO founder Chen Mingyong persuaded Liu Zuohu to start a new brand independently, Xiaomi's internet-based approach had already been recognized by the market. Previously, offline-focused smartphone manufacturers followed suit, and Huawei also launched its "Honor" sub-brand targeting online channels.

This is one aspect.

Secondly, OnePlus initially committed to a high-end route and generally succeeded. Even in 2015, when it attempted to launch a cheaper light flagship, the OnePlus X, it led to a lack of focus in capabilities and resources, triggering a crisis. Of course, OPPO also helped significantly at the time. The OnePlus X, after being returned and rebranded with OPPO's logo, became the OPPO A30, alleviating OnePlus's inventory pressure.

By the eve of its merger with OPPO in 2021, OnePlus had established a strong global high-end brand perception.

Counterpoint data shows that starting from 2019, OnePlus ranked among the top four in the global smartphone high-end market, trailing only Apple, Samsung, and Huawei. In some markets, such as India, OnePlus even outsold Apple and Samsung. By 2020, OnePlus had become the only brand in the U.S. smartphone market to achieve year-on-year sales growth against the trend.

However, by 2021, the market situation had undergone new changes.

In February, Liu Bo, then OPPO's Vice President and President of China, proposed a strategic declaration centered on users in a speech, mentioning the need to drive the overall brand towards high-endization.

Figure/OnePlus official Weibo

The previous year, OPPO had proposed its 3+N+X technological leap strategy for the first time, where "3" refers to three core technologies: Mariana chip, Pantanal smart cross-terminal system, and Andes intelligent cloud, representing hardware, software, and services, respectively.

OPPO also recalled Liu Zuohu to take full charge of product planning and experience. Subsequently, after the full integration of OnePlus and OPPO, Liu Zuohu became OPPO's Chief Product Officer and initiated a dual-brand strategy.

Behind these various moves, OPPO's ambition and determination to impact (make an impact on) the high-end market were evident.

In fact, at this point, the mainstream narrative among smartphone manufacturers had shifted—everyone was no longer simply pursuing sales volume and market share; the strategic importance of high-endization and globalization had risen.

This was closely related to the market environment at the time.

Firstly, the decline in shipment growth in the Chinese smartphone market continued. In the following year, 2022, Chinese smartphone shipments recorded the largest decline in history.

Secondly, Huawei's temporary absence in the high-end smartphone market created new opportunities.

From this perspective, OnePlus's merger with OPPO to become a sub-brand of OPPO was logically straightforward:

Firstly, it was the return of Liu Zuohu, who had successfully managed a high-end brand. Secondly, it was to avoid potential "cannibalization" with OPPO's main brand also aiming for the high-end market. Thirdly, it was to consolidate the disperse (scattered) brand perceptions and form a synergistic force to impact (make an impact on) the high-end market.

In comparison, realme's current return, while superficially similar to OnePlus's path, actually follows a different logic.

02

What can realme bring to OPPO?

Looking back, the growth rate of the Chinese smartphone market peaked in 2012 but then began to decline. By 2015, the growth rate had dropped to its first low point of only 2.6%. Later, in 2016 and beyond, smartphone shipments in the Chinese market started to decline.

As the market accelerated into a slowdown cycle, players in the industry were inevitably drawn into two types of competition:

One was competition for the existing market, focusing on fast charging, screens, imaging, etc. The other was competition for new growth, with manufacturers starting from India and Southeast Asia and gradually expanding their networks overseas.

OPPO's globalization journey actually began even earlier—entering the Southeast Asian market, which is geographically close to the Chinese market and has similar smartphone channels, around 2013; followed by entries into the Middle East and African markets; testing the European market in 2018; and entering the Latin American market around 2020.

Throughout this overseas journey, Li Bingzhong, who later independently founded realme, had been a key figure. Until 2018, when he started realme, he was OPPO's head of overseas operations.

According to Li Bingzhong's previous statements to the media, unlike Liu Zuohu's establishment of OnePlus, which was initiated by Chen Mingyong, realme was an idea proposed by Li Bingzhong to Chen Mingyong, who promptly agreed.

At the time, Li Bingzhong first saw unmet, or at least not well-met, demands in the Indian market.

Citing a previous report by LatePost, in late 2017, after a conversation with executives from the Indian local e-commerce platform Flipkart, Li Bingzhong began to pay a lot of attention to online platforms. He found that many smartphones had online ratings below 4, with consumers mainly complaining about poor design and texture. Soon, Li Bingzhong set a light asset model path for realme, prioritizing e-commerce.

In this way, realme's birth even owed something to Xiaomi, or one could say that realme aimed to become the "next Xiaomi" in the Indian market—when realme officially started in India in mid-2018, Xiaomi was already the top smartphone brand in terms of market share, with a playbook that also revolved around "internet + cost-effectiveness."

realme's subsequent achievements also reflected Li Bingzhong's market judgment:

It became the fastest smartphone brand globally to reach cumulative sales of 100 million units, achieving this milestone in just 37 months. Five years after its establishment, in December 2023, its global shipments surpassed the 200 million mark. Seven years after its establishment, in August 2025, this figure surpassed the 300 million mark.

Figure/realme official website

However, realme's bottlenecks have also become increasingly apparent.

It entered the Chinese market in May 2019, but nearly seven years later, it has not made much of a splash. It may even be on the verge of giving up on the Chinese market. Sources told Interface News that this year's GT8 series models to be released by realme would be its last attempt in the Chinese market, and if expectations were not met, it would withdraw.

On the other hand, its growth pressure in overseas markets is also gradually increasing.

For example, focusing on the Indian market, IDC data shows that in the second quarter of last year, realme experienced a significant decline, with shipments falling 17.8% year-on-year and market share dropping below single digits for the first time. In the third quarter, shipments also fell 10.9% year-on-year.

Of course, from the past year's perspective, OPPO's sales performance in the global market has also shown certain fluctuations.

IDC data shows that in the first quarter of last year, OPPO ranked fourth globally in overall sales, but its shipment data was the only one among the top five manufacturers to experience a year-on-year decline, with a decrease of 6.8%. In the second and third quarters, OPPO failed to rank among the top five globally.

However, in the Chinese smartphone market, OPPO ranked among the top five in the first three quarters of last year, coming in third in the first two quarters and fifth in the third quarter.

From this perspective, if OnePlus's merger with OPPO five years ago was more about OPPO's aspiration to move upmarket, then bringing the realme brand back now is aimed at jointly pursuing globalization.

In fact, last year, OPPO made corresponding organizational adjustments, with Liu Zuohu overseeing overseas markets in various regions. Senior Vice President Duan Yaohui supervised the headquarters' marketing and service team.

At the time, OPPO mentioned that in the position adjustments of Liu Zuohu and Duan Yaohui, their original positions remained unchanged, with only additional functions added to their original roles. The core purpose was to increase emphasis on and investment in overseas markets.

Now, with realme's integration, OPPO can, to a certain extent, clench its fists and ideally integrate resources and synergize operations to help OPPO continue to excel in globalization.

Of course, realme's return to OPPO's fold may also pose another practical challenge.

Citing Interface News reports, industry insiders mentioned that the brand merger of realme and OnePlus is a necessary path for OPPO. The current smartphone market is no longer suitable for a multi-sub-brand strategy, and other smartphone manufacturers completed sub-brand integrations years ago. OPPO's determination this time is likely directly related to the price increase of upstream storage chips.

Nevertheless, regardless of whether it's "division" or "integration," OPPO still needs to confront new uncertainties, which stem from products, market competition, high-endization and globalization, as well as user perceptions.