Chinese smartphone manufacturer Oppo is making its push into the Japanese market through its partnerships with two of the country's largest telecommunications network providers, KDDI and SoftBank.
The partnerships are part of Oppo's wider push into the international market after failing to gain new ground at home due to increasing competition from much larger players such as Huawei and Xiaomi.
The deals Oppo had managed to bag in Japan will be a huge milestone for the smartphone manufacturer and its continued push to make its 5G devices internationally recognized. The partnerships are also Oppo's first major steps into the Japanese mainstream market, with the company expecting significant sales given KDDI and SoftBank's market shares in the country's telecom industry.
Starting on Wednesday, both Japanese carriers will be selling Oppo's 5G smartphones as part of their respective telecom network packages. KDDI will be selling Oppo's first 5G flagship smartphone, the Oppo Find X2 Pro. SoftBank will reportedly start selling Oppo's Reno3 5G handset starting on July 31.
Oppo's vice-president, Alen Wu, mentioned in a statement that Japan is an important market for the company. Over the past two years, Oppo had apparently been trying to localize its products and marketing to suit the specific needs of Japanese consumers, which are at a higher standard than most other markets. Wu added that Oppo will continue to work with its local Japanese partners to offer new products and technologies specifically for the Japanese market.
Japan is currently one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world. Given that fact, smartphone manufacturers will find it challenging to impress most consumers in the country, who are already used to advanced technologies. Japan is also one of the leading nations that have committed to deploying large-scale commercial 5G integrations, making it the perfect testing ground for smartphone manufacturers and their latest 5G devices.
Both KDDI and SoftBank are also pushing for the rapid adoption of 5G network technologies, an effort that is heavily backed by the country's government. Japan is aiming to significantly increase the usage and integration of 5G network technologies into its own infrastructures, with the goal of having it go mainstream by 2021.
While Oppo may not have found much success in its home market, the company's efforts to expand internationally has paid off. For the first quarter of this year, the company managed to occupy around 8 percent of the global smartphone market, an impressive feat for such a relatively unknown and new player. Samsung continues to dominate the global market with 21.8 percent, followed by Huawei with 17.6 percent, and Apple with 14.5 percent.
