Oppo prepares to launch a proprietary chipset so it can ditch Snapdragon

While other companies, such as Samsung, are starting to move away from producing proprietary processors, others are looking to enter the area. Oppo looks set to be the next smartphone maker to integrate a processor designed in its own labs, and the launch of the first model based on this processor could be very close.

Oppo’s 2024 flagship could be based on a proprietary processor

According to Ice Universe, a well-known leaker on Twitter and Weibo, Oppo could launch its first phone with a proprietary chipset in 2024. Oppo started developing this chip sometime in 2021, and to be able to develop such a project so quickly would have employed thousands of chip development specialists. Incidentally, Oppo has been working on creating proprietary components all along, almost 2 years ago unveiling its first proprietary image processor: the MariSilicon.

Oppo would thus like to decrease the level of dependence on other partners, following Apple’s model, which continues from year to year to abandon various components produced by other companies, in favor of some developed in its own laboratories.

OPPO independently developed the processor, which will be used in OPPO smartphones in 2024.

– Ice universe (@UniverseIce) December 30, 2022

It’s unclear, however, whether Oppo will only use this chipset for its phones, presumably high-end models, or whether it will offer this technology to other “sister” brands. BBK Electronics owns Oppo/OnePlus as well as other companies like Realme and Vivo, which could also benefit from a probably cheaper processor.

The new processor could be developed on TSMC’s 3nm manufacturing process, the one Apple will use to develop the next high-end iPhone chipset, the Apple A17, expected this fall. With Oppo launching new Find X models through January, we may not hear the first information about its new chipset for another year.