China’s OnePlus shows Apple the way in India by targeting younger smartphone consumers
OnePlus usually introduces a single new smartphone model every year using premium chips, screens and materials but tries to keep the cost down
India is arguably the world’s toughest smartphone market – just ask Apple. Yet Chinese manufacturer OnePlus has found a path to success in the country of 1.3 billion.
As Pete Lau, OnePlus’ co-founder and chief executive, describes it, the company targeted younger users with stylish and affordable Android-based smartphones. Rather than plastering shops with advertisements, student ambassadors promote the Shenzhen-based company’s products. OnePlus also sponsors cricket games, breaking a no-advertising pledge it has in other places.
Thanks to those efforts, OnePlus commanded 40 per cent of India’s premium smartphone market in June, compared with zero when it arrived in 2014, according to Counterpoint Research, which defines the segment as one where devices cost 30,000 rupees (US$435) or more. OnePlus is ahead of Samsung Electronics, which has a 34 per cent share, and Apple’s 14 per cent. Long term, Lau is betting that he’ll be able to outrun rivals at the top end of the world’s fastest-growing smartphone market.
“The premium smartphone segment may be small, but buying power among young Indians is surging and will create a huge opportunity by 2020,” Lau, 43, said in an interview. “We have a standard product across the globe, we don’t do a sub-US$100 category for India. Lower-tier products require compromises that we are unwilling to make.”
To be sure, OnePlus is not even in the top five when it comes to India’s broader smartphone market, which includes phones that cost less than 30,000 rupees. Samsung is No 1 by shipments, followed by Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo and Huawei Technologies, according to Counterpoint.