Chinese smartphone manufacturer Oppo has rejigged product lines to strengthen its position as the market leader for mid-range smartphones in Thailand.
The company is also seeking to expand online sales channels while attempting to break into the "ultra-premium" price segment (over 30,000 baht) within three years with the introduction of new flagship models.
"Oppo is revamping our product line to prepare for future growth in the next decade to serve customer needs," said Chanon Jirayukul, executive vice-president of Oppo Thailand.
The product line is divided into four ranges -- A Series (4,000-9,000 baht), K Series (around 10,000 baht), F Series (8,000-12,000) and Reno Series (12,000-22,000).
Oppo is folding the successful F Series model that helped the company secure its place as market leader of the mid-range price band.
"We will merge F Series into the Reno Series high-end range to tap into the mid- to high-end users," Mr Chanon said.
"We wanted to reduce the number of series as our customers were getting confused."
New F Series models will be renamed Reno2F and remain in the mid-range with a premium design from the Reno Series and a 48 megapixel (MP) camera, quad rear camera and wide-angle lens for portraits and selfies.
Meanwhile, another new Reno2 model will tap into the high-end market with a 48MP camera, quad rear camera and macro mode with hybrid zoom.
Oppo hopes the two new Reno Series phones will appeal to customers aged 18-35.
Mr Chanon said the Reno series, in particular the Reno2F, will help strengthen its hold on the mid-range segment where Oppo has 60% market share.
He said the challenge ahead is from rivals seeking to offer competing mid-range prices.
Moreover, Oppo is pushing a flagship smartphone launched last year in the ultra-premium band, the 29,900-baht Find X, to test the market reception.
"We plan to relaunch the Find series and other exciting products soon," said Mr Chanon.
The ultra-premium market marks a big gap in Oppo's market penetration.
This year, the company is investing US$1.5 billion (45.5 billion baht) globally in R7D.
The company is putting great effort in becoming a market leader in the ultra-premium market, which is dominated by Huawei and Apple, he said.
Oppo plans to launch soon its first flagship store at EmQuartier mall in Bangkok, drawing attention to the Find X model, hoping to attract more adult customers.
The company also has 5G-enabled smartphones that have been launched in Switzerland. The 5G network is not yet ready in Thailand.
Mr Chanon said premium smartphones in June of this year accounted for 10% of the 19-million-unit Thai smartphone market worth 150 billion baht.
Thailand's premium smartphones in the 20,000-baht price range sell at a rate of 100,000 units per month, or 1.2 million units per year.
For the first eight months this year, the local smartphone market grew 7-8% because of intense competition from Chinese makers, with big promotions making the value of smartphones sales stagnant.
However, in the fourth quarter, flagship models launched from rivals including Oppo will increase the overall market value growth by single digits.
Oppo is second for market share in Thailand, but declined to disclose exact figures.
In the fourth quarter of 2018, Oppo became the market leader in Thailand with a 22.2% share, surpassing for the first time Samsung, according to research firm Canalys.
In its latest study, Canalys found the top three smartphone vendors in Thailand for the second quarter of 2019 were Samsung at 30%, Oppo at 18% and Vivo at 16%.
Canalys said Chinese brands -- mostly Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi, Realme and Huawei -- shipped 19 million units in the second quarter to take a 62% market share in Southeast Asia.
