The Chinese telephone giant Oppo left France last summer. But it is now certain: the smartphone brand has not said its last word and is preparing to return to France very soon.
“Yang Technology SAS, exclusive distributor of the Oppo brand in France, has decided to cease its activities in the territory”, we could read on July 25, 2023 in a fairly laconic press release. A brutal end, in France at least, for Oppo installed in our regions since 2018, to which we owe very convincing and very innovative smartphones, such as the Find X5 Pro, the Reno models or, the latest device released in France, the folding Find N2 Flip which particularly appealed to us. Legal disagreements with Nokia over patents relating to 4G and 5G technologies and then financial setbacks with Yang Technology led Oppo to close its doors and withdraw from the French market.
Rebound in this spring of 2024: Oppo is making its comeback in France! There is no longer any question here of an exclusive distributor such as Yang Technology, an internal source tells us. Oppo France will remain under the leadership of the headquarters in China with a small team, for the moment, based in France. Oppo should therefore reopen its doors in June, we are told. And it appears very likely that the (re)start will take place with the launch of brand new models, the Reno 12 and 12 Pro presented on May 23 in China. These two mid-range smartphones should allow the brand to reconnect with the French public.
At the Mobile World Congress (MWC) show held in Barcelona last February, Oppo occupied a tiny stand far removed from the gigantic exhibition spaces of Xiaomi, Honor, Samsung and Huawei. But it was on this occasion that the brand initiated its return to European soil by announcing its partnership with Telefónica, a Spanish operator. In France, however, Oppo will have a lot to do with the other players who have benefited from its withdrawal. This is particularly the case for Motorola and Honor, which have continued to multiply their references to occupy the vacant space.