Both companies worked hard to deliver better hardware for the phone
OPPO’s F7 smartphone is enjoying brisk sales in the Philippines. Aside from the astonishing weight of OPPO’s marketing efforts and the AI-powered selfies, one of the things that’s powering the F7’s sales performance is the processor inside the device. MediaTek’s Helio P60 chipset was a pleasant surprise for many, giving the phone (and other devices that’ll use it) parity over the Qualcomm’s similar offerings.
But it turns out OPPO’s partnership with MediaTek doesn’t just extend to them picking the latest processor and plugging it into their phone: according to MediaTek General Manager for Wireless Communication Business Unit TL Lee, OPPO had a lot of input when the chip company was designing the new SoC.
“At the very beginning of the P60 development when MediaTek engineers were working on the P60’s architecture, OPPO’s R&D provided us with a lot of suggestions about the architecture and the features of the P60”, he said, during a joint press conference with OPPO earlier this week.
“We got a lot of suggestion from OPPO from the P23. So we put all of the suggestions into the P60. This is why of the reasons why there’s a big jump from the P23 to the P60,” he added.
“The partnership of OPPO and MediaTek goes a long way back, starting from the F1. From that point OPPO has been collaborating, working hard with MediaTek up to the product that we have at hand, which is the F7,” OPPO Vice President for Operations Mr. Garrick Hung said.
The company collaborated on the AI features of the F7, and both teams took advantage of their AI tech, with OPPO developing their own AI technology that delivers natural-looking AI-powered selfies, and MediaTek working on features that’ll make AI processing faster.
“MediaTek and OPPO have been working very closely on AI. So MediaTek focus on the CPU processor, we developed the framework and then OPPO’s R&D team work on the hardware support and AI features on the F7,” Lee said.
“We’re able to have a phone that performs far far better than the F5, but we’re also able to improve on the AI, thanks to the two APUs which gives us faster time in processing your photos but also enhances your experience with your phone usage, playing games, watching videos,” Hung added.
OPPO’s collaboration with MediaTek is so deep that they’re usually the ones to get first dibs on the chip company’s newer P-series offerings. They were the first people to have a P23-powered phone out the door via the F5, which hasn’t changed with the F7.
“It’s simple: OPPO is our partner. OPPO’s R&D provides us lots of suggestions in the beggining. So there should not be a reason why we shouldn’t offer the P60 to OPPO first,” Lee said.
“I think it’s because of this partnership that our consumers are able to benefit in this partnership between OPPO and MediaTek. From F5 to F7 you’ve seen the jump in performance, and it’s something that the two companies will continue to value the partnership we have to be able to provide what is best for the consumer,” Hung added.
