Chinese OPPO Expands Local Production in Indonesia to Meet Demand, Export Target
Jakarta. Indonesia OPPO Electronics, the local unit of Guangdong-based smartphone manufacturer OPPO Electronics, has increased its local production capacity by more than 50 percent as it anticipates rising demand from Indonesian customers and a new, expanded export market in 2017.
OPPO's local unit can now produce between 1 million to 1.5 million smartphones a month, up from 800,000 units last year, after a factory upgrade that was completed last month, Aryo Meidianto, OPPO Indonesia spokesman, said on Monday (02/01).
The company saw sales jump in 2016 as the brand gains popularity among local customers for its "selfie-optimized" features, Aryo said.
"Despite having fewer models, OPPO Indonesia's sales in 2016 increased 30-40 percent because we were very focused on marketing products that people actually wanted," Aryo said, but not disclosing the actual number of smartphones it sold last year.
The company sold eight new products last year, fewer than the 12 models it introduced in 2015.
"A high-performance front camera has been OPPO's main strength and we will keep it that way this year with even more sophisticated innovations," Aryo said.
Besides catering to the local market, the smartphone manufacturer also began exploring the possibility of selling its smartphones to Indonesia's eastern neighbor Timor Leste, Aryo added.
The company's manufacturing plant in Tangerang, Banten, began production in 2015 to comply with the government's requirement to include locally produced components in all 4G-capable smartphones sold in Indonesia.
The phone maker now has 120 service points throughout the country and employs up to 20,000 workers.
According to information technology research firm International Data Corporation, OPPO Indonesia holds the second largest share in Indonesia's huge smartphone market, after South Korea's Samsung, whose low-end smartphone sales in the country seemed undamaged by the battery explosion scandal that marred its flagship model the Galaxy Note 7s.
OPPO was ahead of Taiwanese manufacturer Asus, in third place, and local brand Advan.
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