Chinese smartphone maker Oppo is betting heavily on the overseas high-end handset market in 2022, with new models featuring a self-developed image processor, the executive in charge of the brand’s overseas sales said this week. Oppo, the world’s fourth largest smartphone vendor in the fourth quarter, will rely on its Find series to spearhead a push into the lucrative premium sector, Zhang Zhouchuan, vice-president of overseas sales and service at Oppo, said in an interview with the South China Morning Post . “The growth last year exceeded our expectations … so this year we are aiming higher,” Zhang said. He added that the company expects sales of its high-end models, including the Find and OnePlus series, to double year on year in 2022, after sales of the flagship Find series surged 140 per cent globally last year. Oppo Find N vs Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3: which foldable phone is better? The Shenzhen-based company launched its flagship Find X5 models on Thursday, featuring the self-developed image processor MariSilicon X, which was unveiled in December last year . The new chip was designed to boost camera capabilities and improve video performance in dark environments. The core processor used in the new smartphone is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. The company has not announced pricing for its Find X5 series. But if costs are on par with, or higher than, the Find X3 series - which range from 4,999 yuan (US$790) to 6,999 yuan - the new models would be one of the priciest ever produced by Oppo, pitting it against Apple’s latest iPhone 13 line and Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy S22 series. Zhang said the in-house chip could be used in other Oppo models in the near future, and that the company was designing other chips dedicated to boosting certain capabilities such as flash charging. “We are definitely working on developing more integrated circuits internally, but the principle is to [work on ICs that] serve our current capabilities and the core demands of our consumers,” Zhang said. “But we won’t put extra resources into [ICs] that are already sufficient to meet user demand.” Oppo’s renewed push into the global high-end market segment comes amid cutthroat competition among Chinese smartphone makers vying to fill the void left by former leader Huawei Technologies Co, whose handset business has declined sharply under US trade sanctions . Lei Jun, founder of Xiaomi Corp, described competition in the high-end smartphone arena as “a war of life and death” last month, as he vowed to challenge Apple to become China’s biggest high-end brand in the next three years. Oppo’s ambitions for high-end handsets got an extra lift after its merger with OnePlus, the Chinese smartphone brand popular in the West. The company said at that time it could help Oppo become one of the top three premium smartphone brands in China. The integration of OnePlus gave Oppo a more “comprehensive product portfolio for different consumers in the high-end market”, said Zhang, adding that Oppo’s Find series targets businesspeople while OnePlus appeals to geeks. The Find series is Oppo’s major weapon to crack the high-end market, which enjoyed rapid growth last year in western Europe, with a 94 per cent year-on-year increase, and in the South American market where its sales grew 600 per cent, according to Zhang. Overseas sales accounted for over half of Oppo’s total revenue in the past two years, he added. Oppo’s ambitions for global expansion also come amid a global chip shortage that has disrupted the smartphone supply chain. While admitting that the semiconductor shortage has affected Oppo, Zhang said the company allocated its chip inventory to premium models in key markets including Asia-Pacific and Europe. “We have tried to minimise the impact of the chip shortage by working closely with our long term supply chain partners, and by focusing the limited resources on our value markets and the mid and high products,” Zhang said. “We expect the shortage to ease after mid-2022.”