Competition
42,000 and now she feels cheated with Nord selling Rs 17,000 cheaper with similar configuration barring the eighth and the seventh generation Qualcomm Snapdragon’s chipsets. In terms of camera, Oneplus Nord has a total of six lenses whereas the Oneplus 8 has only four, and that makes a difference for millennials.
Elaborating the COVID19 scenario, “I don’t think so. You can’t design a product, especially which looks complete prima facie, in just such a short span. Also, breaking into a new segment is a strategic decision that isn’t taken overnight. So, I don’t subscribe to it being an aftereffect of Covid-19. I would more believe it an attempt of Oneplus to widen its sales horizon,” added Faisal.
Upasana feels, “This series will be expected to fuel more volumes for Oneplus, targeting the youth, upgraders from lowend segment devices, and consumers aspiring for flagship type features at much affordable pricing. However, Oneplus to face competition from other China-based vendors and Samsung which have similar/ better offerings in less than INR30K segment especially with advanced SDM 845/855 series and storage variants like 6GB/128GB which is a new norm in INR20-30K segment.”
If you look deep into the specifications of Oneplus Nord you will realise that it has nothing extraordinary or something which wasn’t seen before. It’s just pure marketing on the entire social mediums available that made people talk about it. You could imagine, just two days after the launch, e-commerce platform, Amazon, its longstanding partner since the last six years in India, came with a report that Oneplus Nord is the most sought after smartphone on its platform. The 6GB/64GB at Rs 25,000 minus expandable storage is a deal-breaker for youths. You can also get Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 at a similar price which is any day a much better and improved chipset than 765G. Do not count the 5G factor yet, it’s completely out of the equation at the moment in India. Another question arises on the availability of the base model. You can only get it somewhere in September.
“In India, 25-30k price band is right now going through intense competition. While Vivo and Oppo are trying to establish themselves in it and Vivo has considerably been able to achieve this, many others like Xiaomi, Realme are flocking among Chinese brands. By that dynamics, yes there is a tough turf. However, whenever any premium brand enters a relatively affordable segment, it becomes much easier for it to make a substantial move as there is some aspirational equity. Also, people in the affordable segment get some sense of pride in owning a brand which was so far only accessible to premium segment. So, it essentially helps consumers position with a segment notch-up. I think that will work for Oneplus positively,” Faisal concludes.
Oneplus has definitely created a niche for itself. The brand works as a bridge between luxury and mid-range buyers. The brand perception is positive among buyers and that’s only because of their product offerings and quality. Oneplus has become synonymous with an overall complete smartphone with a bit of everything packed at a decent price which Indians can afford.
Competition has been around for a while but, Oneplus did not seem distracted. Samsung is yet to eat into the territories of Oneplus rather it has been the opposite. Oppo, Vivo, and Realme are not a threat to Oneplus. Xiaomi plays on a large scale and hence it has all the Bbk-owned companies to fight for plus Samsung.
Conclusion
Oneplus Nord could be a marketing gimmick but, when a premium brand goes affordable people will flock for it. Critics may like it or not but, millennials will definitely vouch for Nord. The anti-china sentiment could be a factor at the moment but, that we rarely see when it comes to smartphones. The ‘affordable’ Nord is a strategically placed smartphone to counter the pandemic blues.
haider@mymobile.co.in