Chinese smartphone maker Oppo said it will cease development of its own chips, citing uncertainties in the global economy and the smartphone industry as the cause.

The world's No 4 handset maker by shipments confirmed on Friday it will cease the operation of Zeku, the company's chip design unit, which was set up in 2019, news portal National Business Daily reported.

"Due to the uncertainties in the global economy and the smartphone industry, we have to make difficult adjustments for long-term development," Oppo said in a statement on Friday.

On the other hand, Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies had a competitive chip unit - HiSilicon, and designed all of its core chips for smartphone and telecom equipment since it lost access to advanced chips from the US, a Reuters report said.

Research firm Canalys said the total smartphone shipments were 67.6 million in the first quarter of this year in China, the lowest since 2013.

A report released by international data company IDC this March said global smartphone shipments will be lower than 1.2 billion in 2023, a decrease of 1.1 percent on a yearly basis. It also predicted a 1.1 percent decrease of smartphone shipments in China to 283 million units this year.