Oppo will only launch quad camera phones now — across all price segments

• Oppo’s Vice President, Tasleem Arif, told Business Insider that the company will only be launching quad camera phones going forward — across all price segments.
  
• Oppo is shifting its strategy from being the ‘selfie expert’ to focusing on making its technology more accessible.
  
• Oppo India has also launched an incubation programme to support and give market access to select startups from Kerala.
  

Oppo is ready to shift its marketing strategy. The brand is going from focusing on its image as the 'selfie expert' to its technology.

From now on, Oppo will exclusively launch quad camera phones, Tasleem Arif — Vice President and Head of R&D at Oppo India — told Business Insider India.

This means all the future smartphones phones from Oppo will have three cameras in the back and one front facing camera. This strategy will cover entry-level devices as well as premium products.

But since the devices fall into different price segments, there is a cost consideration. The quality and size of the sensors will vary.

Oppo’s artificial intelligence (AI) technology

According to Arif, Oppo's software and artificial intelligence camera optimisation will try and bridge the gap between the hardware.

For instance, 20x zoom on the Oppo Reno 2 — a premium device with a 48 megapixel primary camera sensor — might not necessarily be introduced on an entry level device. But it will use its AI software to ensure that the quality of the photos is not compromised.

The company first introduced AI beauty recognition technology on the Oppo F5. By the time they released the F7, AI Beauty 2.0 was launched with 296 facial recognition points.

Global software, Indian optimisation

"Our software is global but we want to optimise it for the needs of Indian consumers by understanding the local ecosystem," said Arif at Huddle Kerala 2019.

Oppo India is going to run an incubation programme and support select startups under Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM), in addition to providing them with market access and technical expertise.

Arif believes that the south Indian state of Kerala represents a unique opportunity.

"Overall, in India, 47% of people own a smartphone. In Kerala, smartphone ownership is much higher than the average at 67%," stated Arif.