An internal Oppo announcement has revealed a major restructuring. OnePlus and Realme have been formally merged to form a new sub-brand business unit. Li Bingzhong (Sky), founder of Realme and Senior Vice President of Oppo, will head the new unit. Xu Qi, formerly President of Realme's global marketing and sales, will oversee the integrated marketing system for both brands.
This development originates from an internal Oppo announcement, first reported by a Chinese tech outlet Leifeng.com and picked up by IThome. The Weibo account Digital Chat Station independently corroborated the development as well.
Leadership and product structure
On the product side, Li Jie, former President of OnePlus China, will take charge, with domestic and overseas product teams reporting directly to Oppo Chief Product Officer Liu Zuohu (Pete Lau).
A separate report notes that the newly merged teams will report to Pete Lau, and that OnePlus and Realme are to put additional emphasis on 'the reuse of product lines.'
Realme's R&D absorbed into Oppo
Realme's R&D team will be reintegrated into the group, with imaging and hardware teams folded into Oppo's existing hardware divisions. This effectively ends Realme's independent engineering identity within the broader Oppo ecosystem.
OnePlus's shrinking global footprint
The merger is the latest in a long series of retreats for OnePlus globally. OnePlus is reported to have shut down operations in Europe as soon as April. Since then, reports of staffing cuts have surfaced, alongside OnePlus officially confirming it is 'evaluating' its future in the region.
OnePlus has not announced any new products for global markets in the past few months. In India, OnePlus is reported to not launch any flagship products moving forward. Even offline retail has been shut down in the country, with after-sales support now being provided by Oppo.
