SUPERBRANDS 2020 World over, the mobile phone market is constantly in a state of flux and is highly competitive. India is no different with many international brands vying for attention. It is one of the most popular destinations for smartphone companies with as many mobile users as the entire population of the United States. The number of smartphone users in India is estimated to increase to about 442 million by 2022. The luxury segment with feature-rich handsets priced at over H50,000 – will see the biggest jump. OnePlus has amply understood this and all their product offerings are of high quality with premium features but at reasonable prices. Market without compromise and willing to spend a little The electronics industry had its emergence as a more if the pricing is justified. Today OnePlus and key driver of the global economy towards the its vision of “Never Settle” exhibits ubiquity, beginning of the 20th century. Mobile with a promise to grow in alignment with communication came to the fore, transforming customer wants. The mobile market was one itself as a necessity first and a luxury second. With of the few markets immune to economic many well- slowdown, and it continues to grow. established players dominating the Achievements market, there was a OnePlus has successfully launched hint of oligarchical thirteen flagship phones across 38 intimidation for new regions worldwide. Currently, brands, to step-up OnePlus phones are sold in more and challenge the than 50 countries and achieved norms. People grew 95% YoY growth in sales. The up with most company grew faster than the brands, overall segment (+66%) and but it remained the fastest-growing brand, driven by strong performances of both its 7 and 7T series. With OnePlus 7T and OnePlus 7T Pro, OnePlus witnessed its highest ever recorded shipment sales – 0.74 million – in Q3 of 2019. Another significant high would be the fact that over 1 million units of the OnePlus 6 phone were sold in a single month (within 22 standards but low on features. And then comes days) in India. After OnePlus 6T was launched, the pricing perspective, which discouraged many the brand set a new Guinness World Record from purchasing high-end products due to lack of for ‘Most people unboxing simultaneously’, affordability. The objective for the team was to with 559 community members coming build a device that was feature-rich, designed with together for the event in Mumbai. OnePlus is focus on their core competencies of hardware, also the number one premium phone in India, is the understanding of with a fast-growing community. The popup what people seek today, events held across 26 cities saw an attendance that led OnePlus to of over 15,000 people. By the end of 2019, become a success story. OnePlus had over 5 million community In Q3 of 2019, the Indian members in India alone, the largest of its kind smartphone shipments for a smartphone, in such a short period, since and one that cost much lower than other reached a record-high of its launch. The brand showed its support to flagships. A device that felt just right in the hands 49 million units defying the Indian Government’s initiative of Make in of a young adult in search of quality, at a price that the economic slowdown India, by manufacturing the devices within the could be justified. This made the company adopt trends in other sectors and country. Making India the benchmark for their the vision – Never Settle, because they didn’t also became the second largest globally. global products, OnePlus also launched its want their consumers to settle for anything less Understanding this shift in the market R&D facility in Hyderabad in 2019. than what they wanted. sentiment, paving the way for a much younger Hardware is considered the most critical aspect brand, does not require much speculation. The History for the success of a phone in its early years. leaders at OnePlus understood that the factors OnePlus was founded on 16th December 2013 Keeping this in mind, brilliant hardware was that mainly influence Indians are premium quality by Pete Lau and Carl Pei, both formerly employed integrated with the right software to create the and features at a reasonable price tag. When by Oppo Electronics. OnePlus became the brand’s distinctiveness. Built on the Android many major brands offered feature-rich products, answer to its founders’ pursuit of building a global platform, with specifications comparative to, and extremely heavy on the pocket, this new brand brand in the mobile device industry. Both Pete sometimes better, than the other flagship devices. offered similar features at a more justifiable and Carl wanted to create an android device that The brand was unique with its sales and marketing pricing. Market segmentation plays a key role for would answer to the actual needs of consumers, strategy too. The team focused on an invitation- any product company to gather its share. Similarly, without any compromise. For a long time, users only and an internet-only model to cut costs. OnePlus’s products had a target segment too, but had to make choices between flagship products These savings were partly shared with consumers, the approach was different. The brand aimed to that were high in features but limited by quality, which allowed them to keep the price of the create a product for young adults seeking quality, or devices that were built with amazing quality devices low. The invite-only model allowed them 50 to control their inventory and cut costs of community of OnePlus grew the brand, for its values. The Guinness World production and sales, while the online sales two-fold and made other Record set in Mumbai for the most unboxing is ensured cost savings from retailer cuts. industry players part of the promotional campaign that involves To be a truly customer-centric brand, OnePlus uncomfortable. Analysing the community deeply. The pop-up stores, ensured that its partners were aligned with the the Indian market, the which see participation of close to 15,000 company’s philosophy. The idea was never to be team decided to foray people have become a major hit across the a one-hit-wonder but create a global product that into the budget phone globe. The #shotononeplus had the lasts. Since the internet offers speed, convenience, segment with the National Geographic magazine release its and efficiency, leveraging it to build the brand was OnePlus X. However, first ever cover shot taken on the intrinsic. Using the power of social media, its team this was not what the OnePlus 7 Pro. Harper’s Bazar and GQ of developers created a community and listened Indian consumers were followed suit, in addition to the many to what its users were saying. And that became looking for. OnePlus X was influencers and photography the market research they needed in each phase not unpopular by any means, enthusiasts, part of the OnePlus |of development. and it did do good business, community. OnePlus has also India became OnePlus’s largest market, which but the company decided to recently partnered with Netflix to led to the OnePlus One launch, exclusively on solidify their foundation by create an HDR supported Amazon in 2014. Though the target market for focusing on the one ‘true flagship’. immersive experience on the the company was North America and Europe, This led to the launch of two new OnePlus 7 Pro. The Back to India happened by chance. The huge organic phones in 2016, the OnePlus 3 and College campaign, the Tic growth within the country made the OnePlus OnePlus 3T. These were the Tac Share & Win campaign team take notice of the potential of the Indian company’s earliest metal unibody and flagship smartphone market. OnePlus became a phones, once again offering good the OnePlus X Snapchat brand that changed the perspective of the specifications at a comparatively low Diwali campaign focused consumers regarding the quality of Chinese price. Sticking to the modus operandi the on the much younger products. The immense popularity of the brand in company launched OnePlus 5 and OnePlus community members. India subsequently resulted in expansion. 5T in 2017 and OnePlus 6 and OnePlus 6T To further their Bengaluru became the headquarters for the in 2018. engagement with the India market, with an R&D centre in Hyderabad In May 2019, the company did something larger community, OnePlus that followed later. Not only is India OnePlus’s different and launched both OnePlus 7 and hosted the first edition of the largest market in the world but OnePlus happens OnePlus 7 Pro together at Bengaluru, New York, OnePlus Music Festival, a first of its kind, to be the top flagship phone within India, and London simultaneously. With the OnePlus 7 multi-genre music festival in India that brought becoming a market leader with 35% market share Pro, the brand marked its entry into the ultra- together some of the best national and in third quarter of 2019. (Source: Counterpoint premium segment, and these launches international artists. Headlined by Katy Perry and Research India) immediately captured 26% of the market. (Source: Dua Lipa with performances by Amit Trivedi, Counterpoint Research). In congruence to India’s Ritviz, The Local Train and Aswekeepsearching, Product focus on localisation, the new R&D facility at this event, witnessed by over 25,000 attendees OnePlus has one of the largest online Hyderabad will work on innovation in line with created a niche space for its community and communities with over six million members. the Make in India strategy. OnePlus also began its music enthusiasts to come together on a different Going the unconventional way by starting off with research in 5G and joined forces with Qualcomm platform to see their favourite acts and discover an invite-only sales model, the company has for its development.