Kaká has been flown in for an event to debut a pair of new devices, the Find N3 and Find N3 Flip, each pricey but very highly specced. They represent the year’s most important event for Oppo, a Chinese cellphone manufacturer that has become a force in much of Asia with a range of serviceable devices which have achieved huge sales at the budget end of the market since debuting in China in 2004. Yet their ambitions stretch far beyond that, and the company has steadily built momentum to regularly be the top-selling brand in China, and among the top five worldwide. These new devices are a new frontier though, technically astounding and aggressively targeting consumers who default purchase the latest Apple or Samsung product.

It’s an ambitious goal, and to achieve it they’ve flown in media from around the world. There are perhaps 500 people gathered in an aircraft hangar adjacent to Singapore’s enormous Changi airport. I’m there as part of a contingent of 20 or so from Australia and New Zealand, a mix of Oppo staff, publicists and reporters. It’s all expenses paid and no expense spared, yet there is none of the usual negotiation around coverage ahead of time. Oppo’s profile is low compared to the incumbents; these devices and this trip are part of an effort to change that, the company understands it will take years and is prepared to wait.

It’s a multifaceted project. Oppo sponsors big sporting events, including the Champion’s League and Cricket World Cup, along with forging ambassadorial relationships with the likes of Kaká. His appearance caps the end of a highly choreographed 90-minute event which features multiple senior executives talking about these new devices. They stand in front of an enormous tennis court-sized screen, following the Apple product launch playbook, even down to the stark Helvetica type on a white background.

The comparison seems ludicrous: Apple is the largest company in the world by market capitalisation. The product vision of its founder Steve Jobs essentially created the modern world, from hardware to media to technology.