Why Oneplus is used longer than other premium smartphones

Oneplus has garnered huge success in a short period of time. It entered the Indian market in December 2014 and within three years and four months clinched the number one position in Q2 of 2018

Oneplus knows its audience well and is quite adept at wooing them with every new launch. The Chinese premium smartphone maker, which had marked its entry into the Indian smartphone market in 2014 with a budget flagship Oneplus One model, has now even mastered the mid-range premium segment with its newly launched Oneplus 7 and Oneplus 7 Pro models.

Oneplus has also been constantly working on capturing the audience of other smartphone brands in India. While the market is flooded with options when it comes to budget or premium smartphones, a recent report has pointed out that Oneplus users hold on to their models longer than other premium phones.

A Counterpoint Research report revealed that Samsung users replace their smartphones slightly

faster than average while Oneplus users hold onto their devices for a bit longer.

In the report, Pavel Naiya, Senior Analyst at Counterpoint Research said that almost six out of ten Samsung users are interested in replacing their smartphone within the next year and about four out of every ten users of Oneplus plan to buy a new smartphone in the next year.

Oneplus has garnered huge success in a short period of time. It entered the Indian market in December 2014 and within three years and four months clinched the number one position in Q2 of 2018.

The company recorded its highest ever shipments in the fourth quarter of 2018 to lead the premium smartphone segment for three successive quarters, capturing 36 percent market share followed by Apple at 30 percent and Samsung at 26 percent in the country, the Counterpoint Research reported last month.

Anindya Singh, a Oneplus One user who is using the smartphone since May 2014, shared his experience as a user and said that the device’s performance boosts his love for gaming.

“The performance of Oneplus One is so good even after so many years of the launch. And not just for gaming but its camera, design and battery backup along with dash charging feature is great as compared to other devices at the same segment,” Singh told My Mobile.

Singh has kept his smartphone in a perfect working condition.

Oneplus One has been discontinued long back. However, recently a Oneplus

user reported that his Oneplus One smartphone burst into flames. (Though it’s an old phone but not too old for this to happen.)

Praising the efforts of the brand to offer, another Oneplus user, Neelima Thakur said: “I am using Oneplus 5 since it was launched. It has been around two years and I still love this phone. I love the camera, picture quality, battery backup and storage.”

“I feel I can use this smartphone for another two to three years,” she said, on being asked about switching to some other smartphone or brand.

Oneplus 5 is among superhot devices from the brand. It comes with a large 3300mah battery and features a 5.5-inch screen with Optic AMOLED Capacitive Touchscreen display having a resolution of 1080 x 1920 at 401ppi. It boasts of the dual primary camera of 16MP + 20 MP and 16MP front Camera.

Launched in June 2017, the Oneplus 5 is the successor to the Oneplus 3T, which was released in 2016. It was succeeded by the Oneplus 5T five months later in November.

Earlier, a report by Counterpoint Research also suggested that Oneplus 6 was the best selling premium model throughout 2018 in terms of shipment and in retail value. Oneplus 6T was positioned at second place followed by Samsung S9 Plus.

The single biggest addition to the Oneplus 6T is said to be the inclusion of an in-display fingerprint scanner instead of a physical fingerprint scanner on the back. This shows their efficiency and effort in making the product look good.

Another Oneplus user, Indira Chauhan who has previously used a smartphone from the Samsung Galaxy series before switching to Oneplus 6T, says: “I like Oneplus as it offers the latest features, good camera and a big display at a nominal price as compared to other brands such as Samsung, Apple.”

“In-display fingerprint, facial recognition, dual or more cameras and AI capabilities came up as key features, where almost four out of every ten respondents thought that these are a ‘must-have’ in their future premium smartphones,” said Tarun Pathak, Associate Director at Counterpoint Research, in the recently published report.

“Longer battery life along with fast charging, higher memory storage, new designs, and multiple cameras are the other key features which will influence future purchase decisions,” he added.

According to the analyst, punch hole displays and foldable displays are yet to make any significant impact on consumers minds in India.

While the previous smartphones by the brand are doing pretty well, the newly launched Oneplus series is simply adding a cherry on the top.

Launched in June this year, Oneplus 7 features a 6.4-inch Optic AMOLED screen and has a waterdrop notch housing a 16MP camera. It is powered by Qualcomm’s new top-tier chipset, the Snapdragon 855 processor and paired with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of inbuilt storage. It sports a 16MP+5MP camera setup at the rear and houses a 3,700mah battery.

Oneplus 7 Pro comes with a 6.67inch Fluid AMOLED display panel with a QHD+ resolution and refresh rate of 90Hz. It is powered by Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 855 SOC paired with three RAM and storage configurations that max out at 12GB/256GB. It sports a 48MP+16MP+8MP rear cameras. The front-facing pop-up mechanism houses a 16MP camera. The phone is backed by a 4,000mah battery.

For the study, the research firm targeted upper-mid and premium segment, more than Rs 20,000, Android smartphone users. The survey had 800 respondents from the top cities in India. ■

vivek@mymobile.co.in

“In-display fingerprint, facial recognition, dual or more cameras and AI capabilities came up as key features, where almost four out of every ten respondents thought that these are a ‘must-have’ in their future premium smartphones”

– Tarun Pathak, Associate Director, Counterpoint Research