Smartphone rankings: Who the F**k is Oppo?

IDC has released its smartphone tracking results for the first quarter of the year, showing that OPPO was ranked 4th globally in Q1 2017, with a sales volume of 25.6 million and a yearly growth of 29.8%. This begs the question: Who the f**k is Oppo?

Well, I'll tell you. Until today my only exposure to Oppo was an ad that played at the movies a few weeks ago while I was watching The Fate of the Furious. The advertisement was OK, as far as those go. I figured I should at least research Oppo a bit more for this article, and I am now somewhat of an expert on the fourth most popular smartphone brand.

Oppo has been in the smartphone game since 2008, and have, like, 22 models. They actually held the prestigious title of "thinnest smartphone" for a while on some of their earlier models, namely the Finder and the R5. Their Find 5 model was the world's first full HD 1080P smartphone. Nice credentials, Oppo.

Their more recent phones, I was disappointed to learn, are following the same trends as their Apple, Samsung and Huawei competitors. I understand that to launch a successful smartphone product, it has to be glass and brushed metal, the shape of a giant credit card with a single logo on the back and a lonely home button on the front.

I was excited to learn about a smartphone brand I'd never heard of, only to find out that it's more of the same old stuff - which isn't all bad I suppose, because they probably wouldn't be the fourth ranked smartphone company so far this year otherwise. So props to Oppo.

What is exciting is that there's another name to look out for in the future, and the contrarian in me hopes they can continue to innovate and take a serious swing at the big names. I love a good underdog story.

Oppo launched in New Zealand for the first time in March of this year, bringing us their R9, F1 and A39 models. They're worth checking out if you're testing the waters on a new phone, because why not? You don't want to be that person that missed out on the (potentially) Next Big Thing.

You can read the full report here if you're a numbers person, and here is Oppo's website if you're interested in checking out what they're offering.