The humid November air at the Grand Hyatt in Goa is thick with the scent of salt, high stakes, and the unmistakable friction of a brand trying to transcend its own history. The manicured lawns of the resort, perched on the edge of Bambolim Bay, usually serve as a backdrop for leisurely sundowners, but on November 18 they are the staging ground for a mega smartphone launch.
Peter Dohyung Lee, Oppo’s Global Head of Product Strategy, sits comfortably in this setting, as he calmly sits down with BW Businessworld along with Oppo India’s head of brand Goldee Patnaik, to explain how Oppo plans on riding the premiumisation wave in India. He is holding a device that represents a terrifying leap of faith for the Chinese technology giant. In his hand is the Oppo Find X9 Pro—a slab of glass and metal powered by cutting-edge silicon that commands a price tag of Rs 1,09,999.
For a company that built its empire on the reliable, mass-market appeal of the Reno series and the budget-friendly A-series, asking Indian consumers to part with a six-figure sum is not just a strategy; it is a provocation. It challenges the entrenched hierarchy of the Indian smartphone market, a domain where the air becomes thin and the competition merciless above the Rs 80,000 mark. But Lee is uncharacteristically blunt about why they are doing it, and more importantly, why they are doing it now.
“We don’t want to be very greedy,” Lee says, a mischievous smile playing on his lips as he addresses the elephant in the room—the spiralling cost of flagship technology. “If you look at the old trend, who increased the price a lot? Not us. Maybe you need to ask this question to that company in the US.”
It is a sharp, flamboyant opening salvo. Oppo, currently the number two player in India with a 13.9 percent market share according to the latest IDC Q3 2025 report, is no longer content playing second fiddle in the value segment. With the Find X9 series, they are attempting to engineer a coup in the ultra-premium tier.
The 740 Million User Footprint
To understand the magnitude of this gamble, one must look beyond the glamour of the Goa launch and examine the sheer scale of Oppo’s footprint. Globally, the company services a staggering 740 million users. In India alone, that number stands at over 100 million. It is a population larger than most European nations, all united by a single operating system.
For years, Oppo churned out mid-range champions for this massive base, particularly the Reno series, which became synonymous with reliable performance in the Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000 bracket. But success has created an internal crisis: those 100 million Indian users have grown up. Their careers have advanced, their disposable income has swelled, and eventually, they hit a glass ceiling within the Oppo family.
“We have already several million Reno users who bought a phone worth 40 to 50k,” Lee explains, his tone shifting from playful to pragmatic. “We have received many pain points and requests from them: ‘Why didn’t you provide a premium phone? I love the Oppo experience, I love the Oppo camera. But I also want to upgrade the phone to high-end premium.’”
The admission reveals a stark vulnerability. Without a true flagship in India—having skipped the Find X6 and X7 generations locally—Oppo was essentially acting as a nursery for Apple and Samsung. They were nurturing users through their first and second smartphone experiences, only to hand them over to the competition the moment those users were ready to make a "status" purchase. The Find X9 is the retention wall designed to stop that exodus.
The Ladder Of Aspiration
Patnaik extreme right, accompanied with Lee wight next to him.
This pivot to premium is being steered by a leadership team that understands the entire spectrum of the Indian consumer. Goldee Patnaik, Oppo India’s Head of PR and Brand, brings a unique perspective to this high-end table. Patnaik recently took the reins after a long and successful stint at Itel India, a subsidiary of Transsion—the rival Chinese conglomerate known for dominating the entry-level market.
Having spent years mastering the volume game where margins are razor-thin and every rupee counts, Patnaik views the Oppo user base not just as a statistic, but as a ladder of aspiration leveraging the 100 million user moat in India.
“That is the advantage of having a good captive base where it is like from 2G to 4G to 5G, we saw the resurgence, right?” Patnaik argues, bringing a competitor-honed sharpness to the conversation. “So similarly, a K-Series user, a gamer getting into durability with F and Reno and Find. I think the entire multiple segments we are catering to, and people would surely climb up the ladder.”
For Patnaik, the premium market in India has suffered from a lack of volatility. It has been too quiet, too predictable. “As you climb up the ladder in the premium segment, there is a dearth of options,” he posits. “Consumers normally get options after a very long wait. I think that is the monotony, that is the myth which we want to break with these series of flagships. That you hit the market fast, understand the trends, react quicker and make things available.”
The Premiumisation Wave: By The Numbers
The strategy relies on a nuanced reading of Indian demographics and hard market data. The Indian smartphone market is currently witnessing a massive "premiumisation" event. This isn’t a festive blip; it is a sustained structural shift showing India’s growing confidence in technology as a lifestyle statement.
According to the latest data from IDC for Q3 2025, the Indian market shipped 48 million smartphones. However, the growth engines were exclusively at the top. The premium segment ($600–$800) grew by 43 percent year-on-year, while the super-premium tier (>$800)—the rarified air where the Find X9 Pro resides—grew even faster at 53 percent year-on-year. This is the strongest premium momentum India has seen in years, and it validates Oppo’s decision to re-enter the fray.
Lee outlines a divergence in consumer psychology that informed this launch. The older demographic—Gen X—is largely ossified, preferring to stay in the “comfortable” embrace of legacy brands they have known for decades. They buy phones like they buy appliances: for longevity and safety.
The youth, however, are restless. “Young people try to do everything new and unique and show off, sometimes flaunt,” Lee observes. It is this desire for differentiation—the need to pull a phone out of a pocket that does not look like every other black rectangle in the room—that Oppo is banking on. The Find X9, with its massive circular camera module and distinctive Cosmos Ring design, is built to be noticed. It is a device engineered for the "flaunt" factor.
Technical Fact Sheet: The Find X9 Series
Feature
| Oppo Find X9
| Oppo Find X9 Pro
| Display
| 6.59-inch AMOLED, 120Hz
| 6.78-inch AMOLED, 120Hz (Peak 3600 nits)
| Processor
| MediaTek Dimensity 9500 (3nm)
| MediaTek Dimensity 9500 (3nm)
| Main Camera
| 50MP Sony LYT-808
| 50MP Sony LYT-828 (1-inch type)
| Telephoto
| 50MP Periscope (3x)
| 200MP Hasselblad Periscope (3x Optical, 120x Digital)
| Battery
| 7,025 mAh (Silicon-Carbon)
| 7,500 mAh (Silicon-Carbon)
| Charging
| 80W Wired / 50W Wireless
| 80W Wired / 50W Wireless
| Software
| ColorOS 16 (Android 16)
| ColorOS 16 (Android 16)
| India Price
| Rs 74,999
| Rs 1,09,999
|
The 6,100 Patent War Chest
To justify a price tag that rivals a used hatchback, Oppo is leveraging a massive intellectual property arsenal. This is not merely about assembling parts; it is about owning the underlying technology. The company has amassed over 6,100 AI patents globally, a war chest that is now being deployed to democratise intelligence across its portfolio.
This patent library is the engine behind Oppo’s aggressive AI targets. Through investments in the OPPO AI Center, the company aims to bring generative AI features to over 100 million users by 2025—double the target they had initially set for 2024. In 2024 alone, Oppo rolled out over 100 GenAI-powered features across imaging, productivity, and performance, moving these capabilities from the realm of "tech demos" to daily utilities.
But the AI strategy here is refreshingly pragmatic. Rather than building a siloed walled garden, Oppo has integrated Google Gemini at the system level. The ‘AI Mind Space’ feature analyses user context and screenshots stored in the cloud, allowing Gemini to provide personalised solutions rather than generic web answers.
“If you don’t have this kind of Oppo AI MySpace features, then your query is based on others’ opinions,” Lee notes. “It is too general. But if you use our Oppo AI, they can refer to your preference and then modify the data and answer.”
Silicon-Carbon: The Chemical Advantage
While AI grabs the headlines, the true engineering flex of the Find X9 series lies in its power source. Oppo has emerged as the pioneering force behind silicon-carbon battery technology, a chemical breakthrough that allows for significantly higher density and capacity without increasing physical bulk.
Traditional lithium-ion batteries, used by the vast majority of the industry, have hit a theoretical ceiling in terms of energy density. To make them last longer, you have to make them bigger and heavier. Oppo’s silicon-carbon anode solution circumvents this physics problem. It allows the Find X9 Pro to pack a massive 7,500mAh cell into a frame that remains elegantly thin.
This is a critical competitive wedge. As of today, this technology is yet to be adopted by the likes of Apple, Samsung, and Google, who remain tethered to traditional battery chemistries. In a market where "battery anxiety" is a primary consumer pain point, offering a multi-day battery life in a slim flagship chassis is a tangible advantage that no amount of marketing spin can replicate.
The Periscope Pedigree
The optical system on the Find X9 boasts a similar lineage of innovation. The phone’s zoom capabilities are not a recent improvisation but the result of a decade-long roadmap. Oppo was the first to pioneer the periscope zoom structure for smartphones, showcasing a "5x Dual-Camera Zoom" prototype way back at MWC 2017.
At the time, the idea of folding light through a prism to fit a long lens sideways inside a phone was radical. Today, it is the industry standard for flagship photography. That early experiment has now evolved into the sophisticated Hasselblad-tuned periscope system used in the Find X9 series.
The new "Master Mode," developed in close collaboration with Hasselblad, attempts to replicate the natural colour science of medium format cameras. “We have developed some natural colour tone systems and algorithms together with Hasselblad,” Lee explains. “If you look into our camera mode, there is a Master Mode... this is our output between Hasselblad and Oppo’s collaboration.” It is a feature aimed squarely at the photographer crowd that might otherwise carry a dedicated camera, further blurring the lines between phone and tool.
When TSMC Charges A Bomb
Despite the bullishness on technology, the economics of the Find X9 Pro are brutal. The device costs Rs 10,000 more than its predecessor, a price hike that Lee attributes to the grim realities of the global supply chain rather than margin padding.
“We are forced to increase the price,” Lee admits, dropping the corporate veil for a moment of candour. “Memory shortage is very serious. Chipset semiconductor price is increasing... TSMC is now charging a bomb to MediaTek.”
The mention of MediaTek is significant. The Find X9 Pro is powered by the flagship Dimensity 9500 chipset, a result of a deep strategic alliance. Lee reveals that Oppo and MediaTek operate a "co-development lab" where engineers from both companies sit together to optimise the silicon specifically for Oppo’s hardware. “Even though other brands use the same chipset, the optimisation and efficiency level is completely different,” Lee claims. “Oppo’s quality is much better.”
This is something the benchmarks reflect as compared to the OnePlus 15 which is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 which is perceived to be superior to the MediaTek Dimensity 9500 in the Oppo Find X9 Pro, the benchmark scores are starkly similar, sustained performance and graphical performance is surprisingly better. This all boils down to how Oppo tunes things for its phone.
To offset the sticker shock of these component costs, Oppo is relying on financial engineering. Patnaik points out that in the Indian market, affordability has been replaced by accessibility.
“It is no more about affordability, it is all about accessibility, innovation,” Patnaik says. “Thanks to the EMI trade-ins and all those offers... there is a keyword attached with premiumisation—that it’s also become affordable. Consumers feel if I buy a decent affordable phone and I have to change after a year, why do I do that? I might as well take a good flagship, pay through EMI so that I don’t bleed.”
The Audio Legacy & The Ecosystem Void
The Find X9 Pro does not arrive alone. Alongside the flagship handset, Oppo is doubling down on its audio pedigree with the launch of the Oppo Enco Buds 3 Pro+. For audiophiles, the "Enco" moniker carries significant weight; the series has quietly established itself as the gold standard for wireless audio in the Android world, often outperforming rivals twice the price.
Sahil notes during the interaction that the Enco series are "amongst the best in the business," a sentiment echoed by the spec sheet of the new Pro+ model which promises studio-grade fidelity to match the Find X9’s visual prowess.
However, a gap remains. While Apple and Samsung offer a seamless trinity of phone, watch, and tablet, Oppo’s Indian portfolio has been notably lighter on the wrist. When pressed on whether we can expect a flagship smartwatch to complete the ecosystem bouquet, Lee adopts a stance of calculated patience.
“With Oppo brand, three product categories are available right now: phone, tablet, TWS,” Lee clarifies, outlining the current strategic pillars. “So we try to consider delivering a watch soon. But we want to check the right time frame to deliver the wearable products in India. So step by step.”
For now, the core remains the TWS, tablet, and phone, but Lee’s "step by step" assurance suggests that the Find X9 is merely the anchor for a broader ecosystem play that is currently being architected in Shenzhen.
Sleeping With The Enemy
Perhaps the most surprising admission from Lee is the acknowledgment that the "ecosystem" war is not zero-sum. In a move that feels almost heretical for an Android manufacturer, the Find X9 series introduces ‘O+ Connect’, a feature designed to make the Android phone play nice with Apple’s MacBook.
“First, there are many people who use two phones,” Lee notes. “Even I received many requests from photographers. They carry just Find X rather than iPhone... but their pain point is every time they need to transfer all the photos to Mac.”
By bridging this gap, Oppo is tacitly admitting that while they can win the pocket, the desk often still belongs to Apple. It is a pragmatic, user-first concession that positions the Find X9 Pro not as an anti-iPhone, but as a superior camera for the creative professional who happens to use a Mac. It breaks the rigid tribalism of OS loyalty in favour of utility.
The Ultra-Premium Verdict
As the interview winds down and the Goan evening turns to night, the question of the "Ultra"—the mythical, top-tier variant that Oppo sells in China but withholds from India—hangs in the air. Oppo hasn't yet launched the Oppo Find X9 Ultra, but its Find X8 Ultra which was reviewed by BW Businessworld was arguably the most complete Android smartphone of 2025.
Will Indian users ever see the absolute pinnacle of Oppo’s engineering?
Lee’s response is equal parts hopeful and desperate. “Of course, we are actively considering and reviewing the opportunity,” he says, looking at the Find X9 Pro in his hand. “I am praying to launch this phone," hinting that if the Find X9 and Find X9 Pro are successful, the Find X9 Ultra would likely show up a few months down the road next year.
For now, the Find X9 Pro is the weapon of choice. Patnaik describes the arrival of this device as nothing short of a “tectonic shift” compared to previous generations. “In terms of X9 having all the Oppo firsts in India... somewhere around 3x the kind of response than what we had in X8 is what we are thinking it is going to be happening for us.”
Oppo has built a device that challenges the duopoly of the premium market, backed it with 6,100 patents and pioneering silicon-carbon tech, and aimed it squarely at a generation that values "flaunt" over familiarity. They have placed their Rs 1 lakh bet on the table. Now, it is up to the Indian consumer to call it. |
