New Delhi: Chinese smartphone maker Relame is being integrated into the most popular brand Oppo as a sub-brand, according to some reports. The change is part of a restructuring effort intended to bring the two companies closer operationally and reduce costs. Oppo and Realme have operated as separate brands under BBK Electronics, a larger Chinese consumer hardware group that also owns other smartphone brands such as Vivo.
Realme’s relationship with Oppo goes back to the brand’s early years. Realme was initially created within Oppo before becoming a standalone smartphone brand in 2018 under the leadership of Sky Li, a former Oppo executive. Realme has expanded beyond China into the markets, including India and Europe. Realme and Oppo continued to operate as the sister brands under the BBK Electronics even after the separation. The recent move effectively folds Realme back into Oppo’s organisational structure, with Realme now formally operating as a sub-brand of Oppo again.
BBK Electronics has long been the holding group behind several prominent Chinese smartphone names. Oppo and Vivo have been central parts of the BBK portfolio for many years. Other brands linked to the group include OnePlus, which has also worked closely with Oppo’s research and development operations in recent years, and iQOO, which functions as the sub-brand associated with Vivo. These brands reported to share supply chain resources and internal technologies as part of broader cost-sharing arrangements. The consolidation of Realme under Oppo echoes a similar move involving OnePlus in recent years, where OnePlus business units and technology roadmap were aligned more closely with Oppo’s development teams.
As we all know, iQOO operates as a performance-focused sub-brand under Vivo. Redmi and POCO function as sub-brands under Xiaomi. These structures enable the parent company to target different price segments and regions while sharing core technology, manufacturing, and distribution networks.
