MC EXCLUSIVE After OnePlus, Oppo moves to absorb Realme in India; layoffs begin

oppo realme

• Oppo begins merging Realme operations in India, cutting sales and support roles
• Realme to become a sub-brand under Oppo, aiming to optimize costs and resources
• Backend functions will be shared, but brand identities remain separate

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Chinese handset maker Oppo has begun absorbing Realme’s operations into its own, cutting roles in sales and support teams, to begin with, as consolidation in India’s highly competitive smartphone market picks up.

The restructuring stems from a global decision to reposition Realme as a sub-brand under Oppo to consolidate resources and lower driving costs through a unified structure.

“In China, this has already been done. In India, it’s a bit different right now because there are ongoing legal issues involving Oppo. So, they can’t move as aggressively here but this will happen gradually and across functions,” a person familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity.

The merger has already begun. Realme’s sales teams has been instructed to shift to the revised structure, sources told Moneycontrol. Employees in sales and service network teams have been asked to resign by April 30, sources said added.

Oppo’s marketing and service networks are expected to shoulder a significant portion of the combined operations.

More functions are likely to be affected in the coming months as the streamlining exercise gathers pace, sources said.

Realme was launched in 2018 as an Oppo sub-brand before being spun off as an independent label later that year.

Its first device, the Realme 1, carried the “By Oppo” branding. Eight years on, the brand now appears to be returning to its original position under the Oppo umbrella.

Realme and Oppo did not respond to Moneycontrol’s queries.

The 2021 blueprint

A similar consolidation played out in India in 2021, when OnePlus moved closer to Oppo, resulting in the integration of research and development as well as several operational functions.

The move in China was primarily driven by cost optimisation, a second source said.

“For BBK, both brands operate under the same parent. The logic is simple — if the parent is one, why run fully separate operations? Instead of spinning off sub-brands as independent companies, keep them within the same umbrella structure, align operations and ideally the P&L. That’s how operational costs get optimised,” the source said.

With the global smartphone market facing pressure, maintaining parallel structures under the same parent makes limited financial sense, the source added. “Ultimately, the primary reason is cost.”

BBK Electronics Corporation, which deregistered in 2023, was often referred  to as the “godfather” of Chinese multinational for its wide smartphone stable that included brands such as Oppo, Vivo, OnePlus, and Realme.

Optimising resources

According to multiple sources, the consolidation in India will focus on support and operational functions — particularly in employee-heavy areas such as after-sales and offline distribution. Research and development is already largely integrated between the two brands.

“Brand identities and front-end marketing will remaain separate, but backend resources will be shared for optimisation. The structure is expected to mirror the Vivo model. iQOO, for instance, was never spun off as a separate entity and continues to operate within Vivo,” the source said, pointing to Vivo’s strong performance in India.

Analysts said Oppo’s reintegration of Realme appears to be a strategic move to counter intensifying competition and mounting cost pressures — stemming from rising component prices, particularly memory, as well as operational overheads across R&D, supply chain and after-sales systems.

“Similarly, we anticipate that brands will increasingly move towards sub-brand strategies and optimise resources, especially those that have achieved global scale with over 50 million shipments,” Tarun Pathak, research director at Counterpoint Research, told Moneycontrol.

The strategy is now shifting from “aggressive expansion” to a more disciplined approach, with reduced overlap in product portfolios and prioritised investments in key markets.

“Consequently, we expect these brands to adopt a more conservative stance towards non-core markets over the next one to two years,” Pathak added.