Oppo Responds To Apple Lawsuit Alleging Trade Secret Theft
The lawsuit alleges that Chen Shi, its former employee, worked at Apple from January 2020 to June 2025 as a Sensor System Architect. Apple claimed that Shi had signed an employment offer in early June 2025 to join Oppo. However, instead of revealing that, he allegedly lied to colleagues that he was returning to China to care for his elderly parents.
The lawsuit further alleges that before leaving Apple, Shi met with several Apple Watch technical team members to gain deeper insight into "their ongoing research and development efforts, including their work on optical sensors, temperature sensors, and ECG sensors."
The lawsuit also alleges that while still at Apple, Shi carried out a series of activities consistent with someone acting nefariously. For instance, the suit alleges that three days before he left Apple, Shi copied 63 confidential files from one of the company's secure folders onto a USB drive late at night. In addition, Shi allegedly searched the internet for instructions on erasing a Macbook and whether his activity on a shared company drive could be traced.
The lawsuit also claims that Shi's actions had the backing of Oppo. It alleges that in one instance, Shi shared with Zijing Zeng, Oppo's vice president of health, that he was reviewing internal materials and attending several meetings at Apple to gather and transfer information to Oppo, and Zheng did not reprimand him. Instead, Zeng allegedly responded with "alright and sent an OK emoji."
Oppo has denied any wrongdoing. In a statement to MacRumours, the company said it found no evidence "establishing any connection between these allegations and the employee's conduct during his employment at OPPO." The company also expressed readiness to defend itself in the lawsuit.
Last month, Apple also made similar allegations of theft against YouTuber Jon Prosser, accusing him of leaking confidential information about iOS 26.
