Smartphone brands OnePlus and Realme have merged key internal operations in China to reduce costs, a new report claimed. Popular Chinese tipster Digital Chat Station said that the companies have formed a new sub-product centre that combines domestic and global product development teams for both brands under one setup.
The unit will be led by Li Jie, head of OnePlus China, who now reports directly to OPPO founder and CEO Liu Zuohu. Wang Wei, former vice president at Realme, has been appointed deputy general manager and will report to Li Jie. Realme is owned by Chinese consumer hardware giant BBK Electronics.
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According to Smartprix, while the companies have merged their operations, marketing and brand identity will remain independent. A separate sub-business unit has also been created for shared commercial operations. Realme founder and CEO Sky Li will head it, while Xu Qi will manage combined marketing and service systems for both OnePlus and Realme.
This move follows a key move in January 2026, when Realme was officially made an OPPO sub-brand alongside OnePlus, 9To5 Google reported. It comes as rising component costs, memory shortages and stronger competition from Xiaomi and Samsung have tightened the smartphone market.
By sharing research and development, procurement, supply chain and some marketing, the focus will be to reduce duplicate costs and speed up development. Despite these developments, OnePlus will continue to target premium performance users, while Realme will focus on budget-friendly value devices.
This strategy is already visible in upcoming devices. The report stated that the OnePlus Nord CE6 Lite is expected to be a rebranded realme P4X. Both share the same design, Dimensity 7400 chipset, 7,000 mAh battery, 45W charging and a similar camera setup.
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This means that the earlier rumours about OnePlus shutting down now appear false. The brand continues in China under the new structure and also remains active in India. However, it is shifting to an online-only sales model. With these developments, OnePlus and Realme may also see more coordinated launches, Smartprix said.
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