Time for OnePlus to stop faking it with Oppo’s phones

Everyone already knew what the OnePlus 5T would be like. No, that isn’t a reference to spot-on leaks. Those weren’t necessary to know almost everything about the OnePlus 5T in advance of its announcement. There’s something about the brand constantly overlooked. Its founders, though, refuse to embrace an integral part of its history.

See, OnePlus isn’t this scrappy startup trying to make a name for itself. What you saw from OnePlus in the past and what you’re continuing to see now is new in name but not in design.

Perhaps to your surprise, the latest flagship is nothing more than an existing phone with a fresh coat a paint. But you won’t hear that from Carl Pei and Pete Lau. They prefer to describe themselves as industry veterans who unchained themselves from big corporations and embarked on a mission to create phones influenced by you. So the world sees OnePlus’ journey over the last four years as a rare success story in a fierce, crowded space. That’s simply not true.

OnePlus isn’t even a startup. It’s just a brand using startup-like tactics to make noise. And, while OnePlus has indeed created a loyal, close-knit community, its products are far from original. Hardware is reused, and software is identical to stock Android.

You’ve probably never heard of BBK Electronics, the massive Chinese company manufacturing different types of products — phones, cameras, televisions, and media players. But although you don’t know BBK Electronics’ name, you do know its brands in the mobile industry. A number of Asian markets are actually dominated by them. Oppo and Vivo, the first consumer-facing brands within the Oppo Electronics division, were joined by OnePlus in 2013.

To this day, OnePlus has never publicly acknowledged its relationship with BBK Electronics. Why have we only learned of it through business filings? Aside from the undesired association with a conglomerate, Pei and Lau don’t want you to know OnePlus receives leftovers from Oppo.

If you weren’t already aware, OnePlus asks its parent company to provide phones and then replaces a few components.

Look at Oppo’s R11 (seen above). Specifications include a 5.5-inch Full HD AMOLED display, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 660, and 20MP and 16MP cameras on the back. It was announced and released in June 2017. Maybe some of those specs sound familiar. That’s because the OnePlus 5, which arrived in the same month, is a tweaked R11. OnePlus debuted its 2017 flagship with the same display but added “Optic” branding to the AMOLED technology, exchanged the processor for a Snapdragon 835, and slightly modified the cameras. From the outside, the R11 and OnePlus 5 are identical.

Article source: https://www.technobuffalo.com/2017/11/17/oneplus-reusing-oppo-design/