forget market share, sell premium phones

“To be honest, we are small,” Oppo South Africa CEO Sam Zhang told TechCentral at the launch of the R40 000 Find X10 Pro Max at Vodacom World in Midrand on Wednesday night.

Zhang wouldn’t give a market share figure at the launch. In written answers to questions sent afterwards, Oppo said it holds “around 5%” of the post-paid market it’s targeting. Zhang said Oppo, which has been in South Africa since 2020, is small because it sells through a limited number of channels and concentrates on post-paid contracts. Nor is share the goal, he said. “Market share is the result. If we focus on customer experience, we’ll get more and more market share.”

Independent figures show how big the gap is. Oppo phones accounted for 2.9% of mobile web traffic in South Africa in October, according to Statcounter, which measures the devices people use rather than sales. Samsung had 50.2% and Apple 18.2%, followed by Honor (9.3%), Huawei (7.6%) and Xiaomi (3.9%).

Zhang said the premium segment was growing while other parts of the market were shrinking, and that cheap phones don’t fit Oppo’s plan.

“If you want to give your customers the best experience, you must use your best hardware, software, everything,” he said. “The entry model, the cheaper one, it’s tough to give customers the best experience.”

Asked how Oppo would win buyers from bigger rivals, he said it had to learn from them and rely on satisfied customers to spread the word. “If customers say this phone is not good, we won’t get customers.”

Big at home, vague on Africa

Oppo is a far bigger player in China. “In China, we are also top three,” Zhang said, adding that Oppo was one of the main brands in South Africa’s postpaid market.

IDC’s data supports the China claim. Oppo, whose figures include OnePlus and Realme, had 15.5% of China’s smartphone market in the third quarter, behind Huawei and Apple, according to the research firm. But its shipments there fell 17.6% from a year earlier, as rising memory prices pushed up the cost of phones.

Oppo, founded in 2004, says it operates in more than 60 countries and has more than 40 000 employees.

Zhang was less clear on the rest of Africa, saying his focus is South Africa. Oppo separately said it would keep its focus on South Africa while it distributes to markets it has opened recently: Angola, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Mauritius.

In South Africa, the Find X10 Pro Max comes in one version: titanium grey, with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. Its three 200MP rear cameras were developed with Swedish camera maker Hasselblad, and it runs on MediaTek’s Dimensity 9600 Pro chip with an 8 000mAh battery.

On contract, it is available only through Vodacom for now, on a proposed deal of R1 699/month over 36 months; Oppo said the terms were still subject to confirmation. It is also sold for cash through participating retailers.

Oppo said it chose Vodacom because it is the biggest reseller of premium smartphones in South Africa. Takealot is already selling the phone, and other resellers and operators will follow.

Oppo’s online store is charging R42 000 until 2 January – R2 000 more than the recommended price – but that includes Enco Buds3 Pro earbuds, an extra 12-month warranty and 12 months of accidental damage cover. — (c) 2026 NewsCentral Media