Oppo is a global smartphone brand with a presence in huge markets such as Australia, the UK, the USA, India, China, and more. Because of the chipset shortage, smartphone vendors had to face rising manufacturing costs as system-on-chipsets (SoCs) became expensive. At the same time, relying on Qualcomm or MediaTek pushes the smartphone vendors to create a device that is complimentary to the chipset rather than the other way around. But Apple (with Bionic chipsets) and Google (with Tensor chipsets) won’t have to worry about all this. Apple and Google can majorly control the manufacturing of their chipsets and also design them in a way that complements their hardware.
According to a new report from Nikkei Asia, Oppo might be looking to do the same. Oppo might be looking to develop its own chipsets.
Oppo Won’t be Fabricating Own Chips
According to the report, the Chinese smartphone manufacturer isn’t looking to fabricate its own chips, though. Oppo might go ahead with TSMCs 3nm technology and then design custom cores that will aid with on-device ML, photography, and security.
This will allow Oppo to reduce its dependence on companies such as Qualcomm and MediaTek. Oppo is expected to come out with a new smartphone donning its own chipset as early as 2023 or 2024. This won’t make Qualcomm very happy.
It is likely that with Oppo going this way, OnePlus and Realme will do the same. Nothing’s confirmed yet, and no official statement from Oppo has come yet. However, this might become the trend for powerful smartphone companies in the near future.
Companies that have the fan following and the money/resources for developing their own chipset will be looking to do so. This will give them better control over their smartphones and also allow them to bring more powerful and optimised devices to the table. It will be interesting if the report from Nikkei Asia is indeed true.
