OnePlus has to its credit, of being one of the disruptors of recent times in the smartphone industry by creating a new segment where a premium experience was made available in relatively affordable segment. Its success not only did peak its market share to over 33% of the segment but also made incumbents like Samsung think about the opportunity which experimented the segment with A series and Lite version of its flagships.
Having been experiencing OnePlus smartphones since inception, I was witnessing a constant dip in the wow factor that the premium smartphone maker had to offer with every launch. After the OnePlus 6 series, we started seeing a constant dip in this wow factor. After 6 series, the smartphones became very expected and there was nothing exceptional that would excite to bring spark in the eyes. Now having experienced the OnePlus 11 for a few days, I think the company is getting it right and this time I could see that wow factor back in the game. This wow factor is difficult to explain as one cannot attribute any objective logic behind it. However, at the end of the day, every consumer notices this wow factor creating an emotional appeal.
There are obvious incremental changes in the specifications that will definitely excite potential buyers as these specs power a smartphone with all essential building blocks creating the right experience. Leaving them aside, from a consumer’s eye, I find this edition of OnePlus making an emotional appeal helping in better conversions. So, this could mean that OnePlus should be able to sell more smartphones in the segment in 2023.
My issue with the brand is fundamentally of the focus. In this ShortSights, I had talked about how OnePlus built its reputation from day one of its business in India and kept a consistency in delivering a premium experience in the Android ecosystem. Also, in an earlier blog, I had shared how with the addition of Nord series, OnePlus can now support a journey of over a decade of a predictable consumer behaviour in smartphones. While these are good strategies to explore, they cannot be experimented at the cost of the core virtues of the business.
First, talking about the Nord series. Well, the brand forayed in this lower segment of market than what it was operating in, with the premise that it wants to democratise experience and that should not be confined to the premium users alone. But, has that happened? No. The Nord series smartphones definitely do not offer the similar kind of experience that OnePlus offers in other series. One can understand that there are compromises to be made to fit in the bill, but then it doesn’t offer anything exceptionally different than the brands which are already operating in its periphery. Though volumes of sales may not substantiate this argument for now, but the consumer and retailer pulse that I have captured over the past few months around OnePlus Nord does indicate that it’s not going to show consistently sustainable success. Also, now the market dynamics are changing, and we are witnessing the mid-premium segment to grow on the back of upgrading to a 5G smartphone. This means, the opportunity shifts back in OnePlus’s den. The brand should ideally divest of Nord and focus on the other series including R, Number and Pro series along with their respective T variants.
The other issue I have with OnePlus is its foraying into monitors. As a brand, OnePlus is seen more of a smart devices’ maker. Monitor unfortunately is one of the dumbest gadgets that can be around us. Even if the company would want to bring some ‘smart’ elements into it, consumers would rarely even notice them. I can understand that it can be seen as a community desire fulfilment where some of the gaming enthusiast of OnePlus family would like to play them on a bigger screen. But in that case, OnePlus should create a gaming portfolio as it is still not strongly perceived as a smartphone offering gaming devices. A better alternative could be something like that Asus does with its ROG community. For now, the monitors remain loosely associated products for OnePlus that could resonate with what it stands for.
With OnePlus 11 smartphones, the brand has a chance to regain its strong hold of the ‘home segment’, which falls in the range of Rs 30,000-50,000 for the brand and leveraging its reputation within the target market skim the 5G upgrade opportunity. In 2023, we expect this segment to go for a massive upgrade as 5G commercial networks expand exponentially across the country. 2023 should be the year for OnePlus where it prioritises sharpening the business focus along with launching promising products like OnePlus 11.
