It seems like OPPO is developing its own mobile processors. According to a new report, a Special Assistant to OPPO’s CEO shared a company-wide internal note revealing the ‘Mariana Plan’.
OPPO developing its own mobile processors as part of ‘Mariana Plan’
This plan elaborates on the development of mobile processors that OPPO is aiming for. OPPO actually mentioned the ‘Mariana Plan’ in its internal documents back in November.
Back then, it was noted that the project received input and support from the OPPO TMG Technical Committee. That committee was founded only a month before that happened, by the way.
Do note that Chan Yen is leading the OPPO TMG Technical Committee. At the same time, Chan Yen is serving as the head of OPPO’s chip platform department. Mr. Yen actually worked for Qualcomm in the past, it was a Technical Director at the company.
It is quite clear what OPPO is trying to do here. OPPO’s very own mobile processors are coming. We still do not know the details, but they are coming if this report is to be believed.
This is not the first time we’re hearing about OPPO’s mobile processors, however. A while back, OPPO was reported to be working on a chipset named ‘OPPO M1’. Well, that chip did get announced, but it’s not what everyone thought it was.
The OPPO M1 is not a full-fledged mobile processor, it’s just a co-processor. OPPO uses it for power optimization of its smartphones. That chip is doing a fairly good job, which makes the idea of OPPO’s processors quite intriguing.
If OPPO does announce its processor, it will join several other smartphone manufacturers who have done the same. Samsung and Huawei are obvious examples, while Apple is as well, to a degree.
Several other smartphone OEMs develop their own mobile processors
Samsung is manufacturing its very own Exynos-branded chips, while Huawei creates Kirin-branded processors. Apple can also be listed here, even though it doesn’t exactly create its own processors from scratch, it’s not a mobile SoC manufacturer.
Xiaomi actually released its very own processor a while back, the Surge S1. That chip didn’t get used much by Xiaomi, and it seems like the company gave up on the idea of its own processors.
It remains to be seen what will OPPO do in this regard, however. The company has a lot of catching up to do, as Qualcomm, Huawei, and Samsung have been doing that for quite some time now.
If there is any truth to this report, OPPO will share some official information in the near future. We’re not sure when can we expect the company’s first processor. It may arrive this year.