With challenges arising from the upcoming devices lack the full set of Google apps and service, Chinese company Huawei has announced announced a partnership with Vodafone to bring its smartphones to the mobile carrier’s European markets. It includes Oppo, the sister brand of Vivo under Dongguan-based electronics holding company BBK. Under the deal, Oppo’s portfolio of advanced 5G handsets as well as value-for-money models will be sold into the U.K, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Romania and Turkey.
Last year, Vodafone has taken back Huawei phones from its U.K. 5G network following the U.S. export ban that stripped Huawei models of certain Android services. However, it can now tap Oppo’s wide range of mobile products in a heated race to sign up 5G customers. The collaborators will jointly explore online sales channels as many parts of Europe’s physical premises remain closed due to the COVID-19.
After Huawei, Oppo is the second-largest smartphone vendor in China and has seen a spike in sales across Europe since entering the market in mid-2018. The company was one of the first to launch commercially available 5G phones in Europe last year and now ranks fifth on the continent with a 2% share, according to a survey from research firm Canalys.
“Oppo has a product range that can hit many of the same segments as Huawei, enabling it to gain market share at the expense of Huawei,” Peter Richardson, research director at Counterpoint Research, explained to TechCrunch. “Oppo has always used quite a European flavour in its product design. This extends to things like colour choice, packaging, and advertising materials. This makes it acceptable to European consumers.”
Richardson said that Oppo, which has a less “Chinese sounding” name than its domestic rivals Xiaomi and Huawei, will help it circumvent some of the “negative media surrounding China just now – first Huawei’s difficulties around security threats and more recently the COVID-19 pandemic.”