The turbulence at OnePlus is becoming stronger as it has allegedly merged with its sub-brand Realme. Trusted Chinese tipster Digital Chat Station shared the development first on Weibo.
According to the post, Li Jie will oversee the combined product division across both domestic and overseas markets. He will report directly to Pete Lau (Liu Zuohu), OnePlus’ co-founder.
Former Realme vice president Wang Wei has reportedly been appointed deputy general manager, while Li Bingzhong will head the newly formed business unit, with Xu Qi overseeing marketing and service systems across both brands.
OnePlus is going through a major change
Before DCS’ leak, an internal Oppo announcement released on Telegram shared how Realme’s original R&D teams have now returned to the wider group. Its imaging, hardware, and other engineering departments are being absorbed into existing hardware divisions. They already relocated the old departments to the Marina Bay headquarters as of late March.
It wasn’t long ago too that four senior OnePlus executives across Europe walked away from the company, including PR managers, communications leads, and country leadership with nearly a decade of history behind them.
Tania Calheiros was the UK PR Manager, Aske Ryskov Kjær was the Senior PR Manager, Dani González was the PR Manager for Spain, and Serban Chiscop was the Country Manager. Serban’s departure raised the most eyebrows because he’d been with the company for almost 10 years.
At the time, OnePlus called it a routine evaluation of its regional roadmap. It's worth noting that they've built a presence in markets like the UK, Germany, and the Netherlands as a premium brand. Realme, on the other hand, is the more budget-aggressive. According to the report, Oppo and Realme will continue operating under their own names, identities, and product lines.
Shared domestic operations will continue in China and overseas operations across India, Southeast Asia, and Europe afterall, among other international markets. Since they'll be retaining their brand identities, their names likely aren’t going anywhere, for now.
Who is Realme?
Realme is a smartphone brand established in 2018 under Oppo, which itself sits within the wider BBK ecosystem that also includes OnePlus, Vivo, and iQOO.
Realme was originally created to go after younger buyers, then they became strong in markets like India, Southeast Asia, parts of Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America. In some quarters, Realme grew so quickly that it briefly became one of the fastest-growing phone brands in the world.
However, they have nowhere near the presence OnePlus built in the USA. OnePlus sold phones legally through the local website, partnered with T-Mobile, got shelf space, worked with American reviewers and media, and built a recognizable enthusiast community.
You could walk into a T-Mobile store and see a OnePlus phone, but that rarely happens with Realme. Their phone collection includes the following:
- Realme GT series: performance-focused flagships and gaming-oriented devices.
- Realme Number series: mainstream phones aimed at value buyers.
- Narzo series: budget and youth-focused devices in some regions.
Realme also makes tablets, earbuds, smartwatches, TVs, and smart home gear.
