Recognizing consumers’ emphasis on high product quality in their choice of smartphones, Oppo’s rigorous testing process involves more than 1.1 million actions performed on each phone model, demonstrating the company’s commitment to product quality.
Oppo has pioneered several testing categories that cover a wide range of usage scenarios and customer groups. The QE Lab’s 150 device tests include new material certifications, quality compliance, routine product monitoring and others, ensuring that each smartphone meets the highest standards of quality and reliability.
Quality monitoring continues throughout the product life cycle, from early development stage to mass production, with sample inspections conducted by the QE Lab.
Tarek Zaki, senior product manager at Oppo MEA, said, “We understand our customers acknowledge the importance that they place on product quality. Therefore, we adopt stricter testing standards than the industry norms, staying true to our belief in human-centric innovation. The Oppo QE Lab leaves no stone unturned to ensure that our smartphones deliver a flawless experience, undertaking more than 150 tests and over a million actions on each smartphone model. We are continuously striving to bring the benefits of technology to people, while leaving all the complexity to ourselves.”
OPPO’s quality tests have been designed to reflect the actual consumer experience, so that common but overlooked motions such as USB plug-in and plug-out, and slight drops are not missed. The tests include:
Drop test: This test involves raising the device to a certain height (up to 1.8m) and then allowing it to fall freely onto a marble surface from different angles. This checks for failure to function, cracking of the outer shell and detachments of any components.
Button click test: As the power and volume keys are most frequently used, each button is tapped 100,000 times, and the fingerprint key is tapped one million times. This ensures that the keys are comfortable to touch, functional and intact.
Plugging test: Users insert and withdraw the USB frequently to charge the device and play music. In this test, the USB is inserted and withdrawn 10,000 times either manually from different angles or by applying different insertion and withdrawal force. This test checks the life of the USB and headphone jack and is designed to detect functional failure or poor contact.
Twisting test: A user may twist the device in use, thus damage it. To verify this, the twisting test is conducted 1,000 times using torque calculated based on the width and depth of the device. This test checks for structural or functional damage. After the test, the device is disassembled to detect any signs of internal structural damage.
Press test of the whole device: This test simulates a scenario where the user accidentally presses the device against a small, pointed object (such as a key or flash drive in a pocket) and verifies whether the device is damaged, or functionality is affected.
Rain test: To test the daily waterproof performance of the device, this test simulates using the device on moderate rainy days. During the test, the device is powered on, while being pitched with water spray from different angles. The device is then set aside for three days to ensure that the water inside the device evaporates and disassembled to verify that the main PCB interface and display screen are not corroded.
Salt spray test: This test simulates a coastal area where the air is humid and contains a high proportion of salt. The test aims to verify whether moisture that infiltrates the device corrodes the internal components and other metal parts, causing function failure.
Environment aging test: This test checks how the phone ages when stored in a simulated environment created for usage under extreme weather conditions.
Friction test: This test uses special sandpaper to rub the case back and forth 2,000 times to test the durability of the phone case.
To maintain one of the highest industry quality standards, Oppo has more than 85% of its devices’ components developed within the company’s own factories. Apart from the quality tests conducted in the QE Lab, each Oppo smartphone that are commercially ready for sales eventually undergoes over 390 tests in total before it leaves the factory.