On Monday, Oppo announced a partnership with Google to leverage the U.S. tech giant's Confidential Computing software. This technology uses encryption to ensure that user data remains secure and inaccessible to third parties. The software will form the backbone of Oppo's new privacy-focused solution, called the Private Computing Cloud.
The primary objective of this initiative is to prevent Oppo from accessing users' sensitive data—such as browser searches and private calls—for AI training purposes. Oppo already collaborates with Google, utilizing its Gemini foundation models to enhance its AI capabilities.
This move echoes Apple's approach to safeguarding user data from its own AI system, Apple Intelligence. Last year, Apple introduced Private Cloud Compute (PCC), a cloud-based system designed for secure AI processing.
Oppo has revealed that its Private Computing Cloud system will incorporate several advanced features this year, including call and recording summarization, search enhancements, and image generation. According to Counterpoint Research, Oppo is the sixth-largest smartphone manufacturer in China, holding a 14% market share in the final quarter of 2024.
"With AI raising significant privacy concerns, especially among Chinese device manufacturers, Oppo's move is a strategic step to establish itself in the AI-enabled smartphone market," said Ben Wood, chief analyst at CCS Insight.
In a related development, rival Chinese smartphone brand Honor also announced a partnership with Google over the weekend.
In addition to its new privacy system, Oppo introduced several other AI features, such as call translation and voice transcription. The company is also integrating Google's Gemini into its Notes, Calendar, and Clock apps. Furthermore, Oppo is working to incorporate Google's next-generation Gemini 2.0 AI model into its devices soon. Gemini 2.0 is an agentic AI system capable of autonomously performing various tasks on behalf of users.
Oppo has set an ambitious goal of bringing AI features to 100 million users by the end of 2025, doubling its 2024 target of 50 million users.