The Chinese manufacturer Oppo had to stop selling its smartphones in Germany in the summer of 2022. The reason was a court ruling in the patent dispute with Nokia. However, the company denied a final withdrawal from Germany for a long time. But now the manufacturer has removed all devices from the German website.
If you currently go to the Oppo Germany website, you will find it completely empty. “There is currently no product information available on our website,” it says. The disappearance of smartphones and headphones seems to underpin what many have suspected for a long time – the final end for Oppo in Germany.
License dispute with Nokia
But how did it come about? In July 2022, a license dispute between Nokia and the BBK Electronics Group flared up – TECHBOOK reported. In addition to Oppo, this also includes brands such as OnePlus. According to Nokia, manufacturers use proprietary 4G and 5G technologies in their smartphones without paying a license fee. Nokia had therefore filed a lawsuit years ago. The case went back to court in July last year. The result: The district court in Munich 1 agreed with Nokia and imposed a sales ban on Oppo and OnePlus.
This means that no new OnePlus smartphones have been sold in Germany since last summer. The same goes for Oppo too. However, the manufacturers did not want to withdraw completely from the market. Until recently, Oppo’s website still contained information about the devices and various headphones. In March, the company even denied withdrawing from Europe.
Oppo clears website completely
But now everything seems to be happening very quickly. The Chinese manufacturer sold all of its smartphones and headphones almost overnight German website removed and is no longer available for inquiries via the agency. We received the answer to our e-mail that press inquiries could not be answered in this way at the moment. Instead, we were referred to a contact directly in China.
The current step comes as a surprise. Until recently, many had assumed that BBK Electronics would still come to an agreement with Nokia in order to be able to offer OnePlus and Oppo products on the German market again. Both manufacturers were recently quite popular and were able to record good sales figures. In the list of the most popular smartphone brands, Oppo was aloud extra 2022 on par with manufacturers such as Motorola, Sony, Nokia, HTC and LG. However, everything now looks as if the German business will finally be left behind. After all, you want to continue to offer your customers support for problems and updates. There is a corresponding note on the website:
Q: Can I continue to use Oppo products without restrictions, access support and receive future updates?
A: Yes, you can continue to use your Oppo products without restrictions, access support and of course you will also receive all future updates.Oppo website Germany
With the disappearance of Oppo and OnePlus from the German market, the selection of current Android smartphones has shrunk, especially in the high-end segment. There are no innovative models such as the Oppo Find N2 folding smartphone in this country, nor is the Reno 8 series. With the OnePlus 10 Pro, OnePlus launched the last major flagship model in April 2022. Manufacturers such as Samsung and Google are benefiting from this, as they are becoming more of a focus for buyers with the shrinking competition.