Chinese smartphone maker Oppo has started assembling printed circuit boards (PCBs) at its second plant in India. This move is reportedly so that Oppo can launch its sub-brand and bring the competition to its rival Xiaomi.

A commuter using his mobile phone passes an advertisement of Chinese smartphone maker Oppo. Image: Reuters

As per the report by Economic Times, the plant, which has a production capacity of 50 million phones, will now be completely devoted to Oppo's upcoming sub-brand and we can expect a phone to launch by next month. The name of the brand is touted to be 'realme'.

The report states that this new brand will be making phones in the Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 category so as to compete with Xiaomi, which has become the largest smartphone brand in India.

Realme satisfies the needs of online consumers through unique, exquisite design, leading specs, cutting edge technology, and overall better quality.

Stay tuned for #realme1, revealing on May 15th! Click here to get notified: https://t.co/QAFLkMd7Uo pic.twitter.com/vN19YpVNg2

— Realme (@realmemobiles) May 1, 2018

Levi Lee, chief product officer of the new brand, confirmed the move in an interview with ET, "In the past six months, we have conducted research among online young consumers and found some interesting market insights that consumers actually prefer phones with better appearance, differentiated design with an affordable price, solid build quality and unsacrificed performance,”

Oppo and its sister company Vivo are generally players in the above Rs 15,000 market. However, India happens to be a country where budget smartphones tend to be sold at a faster pace. This was proved after Xiaomi's recently launched Redmi 5, Redmi 5A and Redmi Note 5 which have seen runaway success, with the Redmi 5A reaching record sales of 3.5 million in the first quarter.

Oppo's new sub-brand could be looking to challenge Xiaomi's dominance in the budget market, however, we will have to wait and see what actually transpires.

Oppo recently launched the Oppo F7 smartphone in India for a starting price of Rs 21,990. The Oppo F7 sports a 6.23-inch Full-HD+ Super Full Screen display panel with an aspect ratio of 19:9 and a resolution of 1080 x 2280 pixels. With the adoption of an iPhone X-inspired notch as well as having super slim bezels, the phone achieves an impressive screen-to-body ratio of 89.09 percent.