Oppo South Africa is realigning its growth strategy around premium smartphones and accessories, with the Chinese multinational phone maker launching the Find X10 Pro Max to strengthen its position in the country's high-end mobile segment.
This, as mounting economic pressure, rising component costs and longer device replacement cycles increasingly reshape SA’s phone market.
Speaking to ITWeb at the launch of the Find X10 Pro Max in Johannesburg last night, Liam Faurie, Vodacom account lead for Oppo South Africa, said the local smartphone market is experiencing what the industry increasingly describes as a “smartphone winter”. This is characterised by rising manufacturing costs and weakening affordability.
“Premiumisation is one key strategy for us. We've got to move into more premium devices and accessories. We're also expanding our tablet range because we need to identify additional revenue streams and build a sustainable business.
“This strategy will see Oppo place greater emphasis on higher-value devices rather than pursuing high sales volumes across all segments, in an increasingly difficult market.”
Oppo's decision to introduce its flagship Pro Max model follows a limited introduction of its Find X9 predecessor last year, which Faurie said provided an opportunity to assess local demand for the manufacturer's premium offering.
The X9 later sold out locally, an indication that its successor would perform exceptionally well, he noted.
This prompted the company to increase its commitment to the category, targeting consumers willing to pay more for higher-end devices, rather than concentrating on the increasingly pressured entry-level and mid-range segments, he added.
“The local premium market remains relatively resilient, even as other parts of South Africa's smartphone market experienced a slowdown. There is continued demand for expensive devices as evidence that opportunities remain in the country's higher-income consumer segment. 99% of the premium market is Apple and Samsung. So, we've got to look at it and we've got to say, where do we position our product? Do we position it in the mid segment that's just dropping, dropping, dropping?”
However, the shift towards premium devices comes against a backdrop of changing consumer behaviour, with South Africans holding onto smartphones for longer rather than upgrading as frequently as they previously did.
According to Oppo, the Find X10 Pro Max is powered by MediaTek's Dimensity 9600 Pro chipset, which handles processing requirements across applications, including high-resolution photography, video editing and multitasking.
Its specifications reflect the increasing emphasis on processing capacity in premium smartphones, particularly as manufacturers incorporate more on-device artificial intelligence capabilities and computational photography features.
While Oppo sees opportunities in the premium category, the broader smartphone market faces mounting pressure from rising component costs, particularly memory, which is becoming a significant contributor to handset manufacturing expenses, noted Fourie.
“The cost of memory and the integration of AI is making it increasingly difficult for manufacturers to produce affordable entry-level smartphones, with the pressure particularly pronounced in lower-storage devices. If you look at an entry-level 64GB smartphone, for example, memory makes up close to 50% of the cost, which is really what makes the price difference.”
The Oppo Find X10 Pro Max has a triple 200MP camera system developed around Oppo's collaboration with Swedish camera manufacturer Hasselblad. It combines professional-grade imaging capabilities with True Colour Imaging and 4K Cine-Grade HDR Video, with a 8 000mAh battery.
The device is available with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage at a recommended retail price of R39 999.
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