Chinese smartphone maker OPPO will continue to remain committed to the European markets despite suspending sales in Germany, its top global executive has said.
OPPO and its subsidiary OnePlus stopped sales of smartphones and smartwatches in Germany after they lost a patent lawsuit against Finnish telecom player Nokia earlier this month.
Nokia had accused the companies of using its patented technology for processing 4G and 5G signals without paying for a license. Nokia won an injunction to halt sales in a German court.
“Our long-term commitment to the European and German markets stays the same. There isn’t an impact on our choice of office location, and the German office, where our European hub is located, will operate as usual,” said Billy Zhang, OPPO’s vice president of overseas sales and services.
According to TechCrunch, Realme is “closely monitoring the situation” of Oppo’s patent challenges in Germany.
OPPO said it is keep on serving its existing customers in Germany.
The company said that it will “integrate certain resources from Central and Eastern Europe with those of Western Europe”.
“We are actively working with the relevant parties to resolve the ongoing legal matter,” a OnePlus spokesperson had said in a statement.
“OnePlus remains committed to the German market and will continue our operations. Meanwhile, OnePlus users in Germany can continue to enjoy our products and related services such as regular software updates and our after-sales service as before,” the spokesperson said.
The Europe smartphone market declined by 11 per cent (on-year) and 13 per cent (on-quarter) to 40 million units in Q2 this year, the lowest since Q2 2020.
Xiaomi and OPPO, hit by China lockdowns, suffered double digit YoY declines in their respective shipments, according to Counterpoint Research.
realme continued its European expansion with double digit YoY shipment growth in Q2.
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