Everything you should know about BBK Electronics, its founder, brands & products, and net worth.
The name BBK Electronics might not sound common to many out there, but, if you’ve used an Oppo, Vivo, OnePlus, Realme, or iQOO smartphone before, then you’ve used a BBK Electronics product.
What is BBK Electronics?
BBK Electronics. It markets smartphones under the Realme, OPPO, Vivo and OnePlus brands, and Blu-ray players, headphones and headphone amplifiers under the OPPO Digital division.
BBK Electronics: Meet the world’s 2nd largest smartphone manufacturer you’ve probably never heard.
Apple and Samsung are undeniably the most popular smartphone brands today. Shipping almost 300 million units last 2019, Samsung easily beats the pack to become the world’s largest phone manufacturer. All of this is expected because everybody’s heard about Samsung, and everybody either owns a Samsung phone or knows somebody who does.
But what do you know about BBK Electronics, the world’s second-largest phone manufacturer? Last 2019, BBK Electronics shipped more than 250 million units and grabbed a sizeable 18% global market share in the last quarter. For most of you who have never heard of BBK before, this is all very confusing. How can such a big player in the phone industry be so out of your radar?
BBK’s early years in the 1990s and 2000s
Ever since its founding in 1995, BBK Electronics was determined to bring their innovation to three fields of electronics: communications, audiovisuals, and education electronics. BBK’s first moves included feature phones and corded phones, VCD and DVD players, as well as handheld language teaching devices in both Chinese and English.
However, BBK encountered a slump as the demand for feature phones declined with the start of the smartphone era in the 2000s. “Making mobile phones is not my call,” said Duan in a rare interview, as he talked about once considering to close the company. But a stroke of genius made Duan try their hand on the growing smartphone market, while still embodying their three verticals.
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Duan began spinning out BBK into separate and independent business entities that each captured one of the company’s target segments. This effectively dropped his BBK stake from a whopping 70% to a modest 17%. In 2004, the OPPO Electronics Corp. was founded to lead the audiovisuals segment, and this was later followed by Vivo Communication Technology Co. in 2009 for communications.
Not long after, BBK further diversified its portfolio by establishing new companies like OnePlus, Realme, and the more recent iQOO just last year. With a slightly bumpy start, BBK Electronics was able to capture a large chunk of the market year after year by infusing their products with innovations and technologies from their three cores, all sold with a competitive price tag.
While BBK’s brands are sisters under one overarching parent company, they are independent of one another and compete with each other on the market (OPPO vs Vivo, most clearly). Let’s take a closer look at the different brands BBK has on its belt, all offering something unique to the table.
OPPO: From MP3 players to game-changing camera technology
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OPPO, the most recognizable name under the BBK group of brands, was founded in 2004 to focus on the audiovisuals segment. OPPO was first envisioned to create DVD, MP3, and Blu-Ray players to capitalize on BBK’s early success within that market. In fact, OPPO’s first product was a portable tear-shaped MP3 player called the OPPO X3. Their other products included amplifiers and headphones.
It was long before OPPO branched out to take their spin on smartphones, as the market leaned more and transitioned towards mobile handhelds. It was only in 2012 that OPPO released its first smartphone, the OPPO Ulike 2, the first phone to have a built-in beautifying feature with its camera. But ever since then, OPPO has been at the forefront of innovation in the industry.
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OPPO’s innovations mostly focused on groundbreaking camera technology and sleek displays, ultimately scoring a lot of firsts in the smartphone race. Some of their landmark technologies include the OPPO N1’s motorized rotating camera, which can rotate up to 206 degrees with a simple touch of a fingerprint sensor, and the OPPO R9’s new and improved IMX398 sensor, revolutionizing image quality under low-light conditions.
And how can we forget about OPPO’s recent advancements like the Find X’s retractable motor that hides the camera, and the OPPO Reno’s 10X Lossless Zoom technology for ultra-wide-angle shots? First-mover innovations are OPPO’s top game, and there’s definitely so much more to look forward to with this beloved brand.
What is BBK Electronics’ net worth?
According to Wikipedia, its founder Duan Yongping is said to be currently worth about $1.5 billion dollars.
And that wraps it up today for BBK Electronics, the Chinese multinational company behind Oppo, Vivo, OnePlus, Realme, and iQOO smartphones.
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