(Yicai Global) June 17 -- Chinese premium handset maker OnePlus Technology will deepen cooperation with its sister company Oppo Mobile Telecommunications while keeping its independent brand.

"We have integrated a number of our teams together with Oppo to better streamline our operations and capitalize on additional shared resources," founder Pete Lau said in an internal e-mail that was circulating on social media.

"After seeing a positive impact from those changes, we’ve decided to further integrate our organization with Oppo,” Lau added. After founding OnePlus in 2013, Lau returned to the mutual parent last May to "oversee product strategy for both OnePlus and Oppo."

Shenzhen-based OnePlus and Dongguan-headquartered Oppo were already sharing supply chain and production resources before the latest move. Guangdong province-based Oujia Holdings owns both brand operators.

The pair has been coming closer together over the past year. OnePlus had its research and development, e-commerce, and customer service departments smoothly merged with those of Oppo late last year, Securities Daily reported.

The intensifying collaboration has already been showing in the products. OnePlus 9, launched last March, is equipped with ColorOS, the same operating system that runs Oppo's devices.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi