Image credit : Nextrift
Oppo, a Chinese smartphone manufacturer, announced that it will close its chip design division due to unpredictability in both the global economy and the smartphone market.
The business, which is among the top local smartphone companies in China, said that it would shut down Zeku in 2019. One of its products is the MariSilicon X chip, a neural processing unit (NPU) that enhances visuals for mobile video and photography.
“Due to the uncertainties in the global economy and the smartphone industry, we have to make difficult adjustments for long-term development,” a company representative said.
The biggest smartphone market in the world, China, is still reeling from one of its worst slumps ever as budget-conscious shoppers continue to hold off on major purchases even after zero-COVID limitations were lifted in the nation.
Smartphone shipments decreased 14% in 2022, and for the first time in ten years, overall unit shipments went below 300 million. According to research firm Canalys, total smartphone shipments in the first quarter decreased 11% year over year to 67.2 million units, the lowest quarterly total since 2013.
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After the United States hobbled Huawei Technologies’ smartphone sector with sanctions that prohibited it from acquiring essential components, Oppo and its Chinese rivals like Xiaomi established internal chip design departments in an effort to become self-sufficient.
BBK Electronics, which also owns Vivo, another popular Chinese smartphone company, is the owner of Oppo.
