From China with love: can Oppo and OnePlus upend the way we buy smartphones?

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Chances are, the smartphone in your hand or pocket was designed by a company based in America, Korea, or maybe Taiwan. Most consumers have probably never even looked at or considered a smartphone from a Chinese company.

Companies like Huawei and ZTE have tried for years to break in to the high-end markets in the US and Europe without much success. Lenovo decided that it would just be easier to buy Motorola than make a go at the US alone. Meanwhile, upstart Xiaomi has garnered a lot of attention and press, but it has yet to bring its wares outside of Asia.

Oppo is a lesser-known name, but it claims to be the “second-most profitable mobile phone company” in China. Now Oppo and its recent offshoot OnePlus are taking a different approach to bringing that success out of China and conquering the West. Instead of partnering up with carriers and kowtowing to their demands, both companies are selling their latest phones, unlocked, directly to consumers. The $499 Oppo Find 7a and $299 OnePlus One offer competitive, high-end performance at prices significantly lower than other, better-known smartphones. Google has taken a similar approach with its Nexus line of smartphones, but those are designed primarily as vehicles for the latest version of Android. Oppo and OnePlus are just focused on selling a lot of phones across the globe.

With the Find 7a and One, the two companies should have no trouble doing just that. And they might just change the expectations we have of smartphones we purchase.For some, Oppo will be best known as the company that launched the first smartphone with CyanogenMod, the N1. However, the company has been building phones for the Chinese market since 2008, following a stint with dedicated MP3 players. Oppo has three different lines of smartphones in China, from entry-level models up to high-end variants, but it is still far from a household name in the US and Europe. The Find 7a is a variant of a Chinese-specific phone tuned specifically for Western networks, and is the company’s best effort yet at attracting customers outside of the mainland.