Oppo, a company that has made a name for itself through impressive Blu-ray and Ultra HD 4K players such as the UDP-203, has announced it is leaving the home cinema business.
The company will continue to trade while stocks last, although it's expected finally to turn off the lights in the summer after 14 years of business.
Via a blog post on its website, Oppo says that although the company "will gradually stop manufacturing new products, existing products will continue to be supported, warranties will still be valid, and both in-warranty and out-of-warranty repair services will continue to be available.
"Firmware will continue to be maintained and updates released from time to time. Customers can rest assured that they will continue to receive the high quality service and support that they have come to expect".
Their work will be handled by a third-party company, with more details to follow.
For consumers this means that newer products, such as the UDP-203 and UDP-205, will probably receive more frequent upgrades - HDR10 is still rumoured to be coming - while older products such as the BDP-103 will get firmware upgrades only if there are critical fixes.
Nigel Rich, Oppo's Managing Director in the UK, said that, "I am very proud of our staff and very sad that we will now be closing our doors for good. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our European distributors, retailers and, of course most importantly, the people who have purchased Oppo products in Europe. We will continue to support products in and out of warranty and we have made provisions to continue this high level of service.”
However, while the company's players are coming to the end of their lives, Oppo's place in the mobile phone market looks ever-stronger. According to reports, Oppo's smartphone shipments amounted to around 27.4 million units in the fourth quarter of 2017 - and the company has not indicated its smartphone business is going the same way as its Blu-ray operation.
In 2016 consulting firm Counterpoint Research said Oppo's R11 and A57 smartphones were the third and fourth best-selling smartphone - due to their popularity in China, as well as markets such as India and Southeast Asia. Hopefully this should keep the Oppo brand in the public consciousness for a while yet.
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