Oppo might be readying itself to join the ranks of Apple and Google in producing its own bespoke chipsets for its smartphones, freeing it to build systems that work in exactly the ways it needs.

The phonemaker added its first bit of custom silicon in the Find X5 line, in the form of a bespoke image processing chip, which is a lot less ambitious than a full system on a chip (SoC) but is still a big step forward.

It's been rumoured for a little while that it would take the big next step and start making SoCs for its devices, and that's been once again indicated by a new report from IT Home in China.

The report says Oppo's working on an application processor, based on the 6nm process so fairly up to date, and might be able to enter production on it in 2023. This could thin down to a 4nm process in 2024, apparently.

Of course, what the SoC might be capable of or how it'll work are complete unknowns at this stage, and we wouldn't expect Oppo to say anything about it for quite a while even if the report is totally accurate, since at this stage it could easily still swerve and pursue other plans.

If it is working on its own SoC, though, it's another bit of confirmation that making your phone's own silicon is becoming more and more of a desirable end-goal in the smartphone market.