Industry rumours suggest OPPO and vivo might limit their flagship Ultra phones to China, prioritising Pro Max variants as rising costs push brands to streamline high-end offerings.
If recent industry chatter proves accurate, OPPO and vivo may be preparing a narrower launch strategy for their next flagship Ultra phones, with both brands reportedly planning to keep those models in China rather than release them internationally. The claim comes from tipster Kartikey Singh on X, who said the companies may instead concentrate on their Pro Max variants.
The rumour fits a broader pattern in the smartphone market, where rising memory prices and tighter component supplies are forcing manufacturers to rethink product plans. As reported by Lowyat and reinforced by separate coverage of Xiaomi’s flagship plans, the pressure from higher costs has already been linked to the reported cancellation of the Xiaomi 18 Ultra.
That earlier Xiaomi report said the Ultra model was considered too costly to bring to market, with the brand expected to lean more heavily on its Pro range instead. Similar commentary has appeared elsewhere in the tech press, with Technobaboy also attributing the alleged cancellation to soaring memory prices and the resulting rise in build costs.
Taken together, the rumours suggest that the high end of the market may be consolidating around fewer globally available Ultra-branded devices. If that happens, Samsung’s Galaxy S27 Ultra could be the only widely sold phone to carry the Ultra name next year, although the same tipster suggested the competing Pro Max models from Chinese brands could be positioned to offer even more ambitious hardware. That remains unconfirmed, and none of the companies named has publicly addressed the claims.
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