On August 8 that OPPO and OnePlus phones are disappearing from the German region, at least for now, according to Wirtschaftswoche. OPPO may be leaving the German market altogether, and all other brands are also affected by patent lawsuits. This could lead to key restrictions on German smartphones in the fall and have a negative impact in terms of price competition.
A court in Munich, Germany, on Friday placed a sales ban on the OPPO and OnePlus brands, after Nokia filed a lawsuit against OPPO over patent issues.
OPPO reacted very quickly and all information referring to their own smartphones has been removed from their German website and the OnePlus online store recently stopped selling any phones. However, the devices are still freely tradable, so the impact of the outcome remains to be seen. international distributors such as Mediamarkt, Saturn or Amazon can source goods abroad, while Nokia can react by requesting a customs seizure.
The OPPO Germany website indicates that “there is currently no product information on our website. Users can continue to use OPPO products without restrictions, get support and of course receive all future updates.”
The patent lawsuit will also affect vivo, as Nokia has also sued the phone brand in relation to essential phone patents that Nokia has exclusive rights to, and due to strict German patent laws, Nokia has been able to successfully sue one after the other. Wirtschaftswoche reports that OPPO wants to exit Germany altogether because German sales represent 1 percent of its total profits and are not worth obtaining a license for global sales for.
With an extra 2.50 euros (about $17.20) per smartphone, competitiveness in emerging markets would be threatened. If other European countries/regions where Nokia is suing follow the German ruling, OPPO may even withdraw from the entire Western European market. In addition, industry experts believe this would hurt consumers even more, as OPPO has about 10% market share in Germany and the absence of OPPO and OnePlus could lead to key limitations in the phone. In addition to the chip shortage, this could also have a negative impact on prices, especially considering that vivo phones could also be banned from German shelves by Christmas.
