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Chinese firms have a long history of making Apple-inspired products, or should we say Apple rip-offs. From device designs to even UI elements, there have been multiple instances where a Chinese company has taken Apple’s best ideas and made them their own. In another not-so-surprising move, OPPO is now seemingly taking inspiration from the Cupertino giant’s Apple Card and developing its own credit card. Of course, it is called OPPO Card.
OPPO has recently filed for a trademark for the moniker “OPPO Card” in its home country China. According to a listing on the Chinese trademark portal, the application was filed on June 22nd, 2021, under International Classification 9 (via DroidMaze).
The trademark is still awaiting acceptance. So no information is available about what purpose the so-called OPPO Card will serve, or perhaps what exactly it is. However, a quick look at this publication from the USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office) reveals trademarks under International Classification 9 cover, not limited to, magnetic data carriers, data processing equipment, computers, computer software, and all computer programs and software regardless of recording media or means of dissemination, that is, software recorded on magnetic media or downloaded from a remote computer network.
This suggests that the OPPO card is something in the footsteps of the Apple Card. That said, this is just a trademark application. There’s no way to verify that the Chinese phone maker, which recently welcomed OnePlus under its umbrella, is working on such a product. Perhaps it sees scope for such electronic cards in the years to come and is preparing for that. Or maybe simply securing the name for the sake of it, just in case. We will have to wait for more information to emerge before we can reach a conclusion.
OPPO files trademark for OPPO Card
As much as we may blame Chinese companies for copying Apple, there are some instances where there’s no other way. Apple Card is one such product that many other companies would want to emulate. Back in April 2020, Huawei launched Huawei Card. Google could also be working on a similar product. So it’s no surprise OPPO would want to try its hand on it as well. After all, Apple Card revolutionized the credit card market.
However, it’s no cakewalk to match Apple’s set of features, let alone the security. It will be interesting to see how OPPO plans to make things happen if it intends to launch the OPPO Card soon.