Oneplus 7, at starting prices of Rs 32,999 may cater to the existing Oneplus audience while Oneplus 7 Pro may help the company to take the fight to Apple, Samsung and Huawei
Pic credits – Amazon IndiaBBK-owned Oneplus has announced the launch of Oneplus 7 and Oneplus 7 Pro in India. While the former features design similarities with Oneplus 6T, the latter sports a new design of its own. Interestingly, the Oneplus 7 is priced lower than what the company had priced Oneplus 6 and 6T when they were launched.
Himanshu Jain, senior analyst, IDC India had earlier told Electronics For You that Oneplus’ strategy might be different this time. He had said, “As Oneplus wants to protect their current market share in premium segment, they might launch Oneplus 7 at almost similar price bands as of Oneplus 6T. But Oneplus 7 pro might have incremental cost to move further into ultra premium segment.”
And Himanshu was right especially about the Oneplus 7 Pro Part. The pricing of the Oneplus 7 Pro seems as if the company wants to take its offerings into a new market segment, a segment shaded with presence of the likes of Samsung, Huawei and Apple.
The case of Oneplus 7
Oneplus has priced the Oneplus 7 at starting prices of Rs 32,999. These prices in comparison to the prices Oneplus 6 and 6T were launched, are quite low. The fact to be noted here is that Oneplus, apart from keeping its loyal users glued to its smartphones, may also be able to compete directly against smartphones priced above Rs 25,000.
Some of these include Nokia 8.1, Honor View 20 and Samsung Galaxy A 70. While two of these are priced lower than Oneplus 7’s starting prices, only Honor View 20 is priced higher than the same. Oneplus might also be able to compete against the Honor View 20 with higher RAM and ROM options of the Oneplus 7. The cherry on the cake for BBK owned company might be people choosing to go for flagship experience instead of buying other smartphones in the price range.
Techarc’s latest report read, “Owing to rising competition and increasing focus of brands like Oppo and Vivo in the Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000 price range, Oneplus preferred not to follow the pricing trend and announced Oneplus 7 at Rs 32,999, which is a six per cent dip than its predecessor’s launch price. So far only Samsung had launched a flagship, S10 at a price cut of three per cent comparing its predecessor, though in Luxe category. The reason to this price cut comes from the competition offerings that are approximately 20 per cent cheaper than Oneplus 7.”
It is to be noted here that Oneplus, Oppo and Vivo operate under the umbrella of China Based BBK. Faisal Kawoosa, founder, Techarc said, “BBK Group shall have to revise the positioning strategy for Oneplus, Oppo and Vivo. Earlier OPPO and Vivo were ‘mirror’ competing each other, which are now entering into Oneplus’s space. Typically, Oneplus users having more than 2 years old model upgrade with every launch.”
The case of Oneplus 7 Pro
Oneplus’ latest offering – Oneplus 7 Pro, has been announced at starting prices of Rs 48,999 for the 6GB RAM + 128 GB ROM variant. These prices go up till Rs 57,999 for the 12 GB RAM + 256 GB ROM variant. Interestingly, one of the e-commerce portals in India, is retailing the Samsung S10e at a price tag of Rs 55,900. Apple iPhone XR 64 GB is also being retailed for a price of Rs 59,886 on the same portal.
Kawoosa, said, “While one can understand that due to rising competition the company chose not to follow the pricing trend in case of Oneplus 7, it missed an opportunity to cross the Rs 50,000 threshold by pricing Oneplus 7 Pro just under that. Nevertheless, Oneplus 7Pro will give a tough competition to iPhone XR and Samsung S10 Luxe category Smartphones.”
He added, “This smartphone would have been a strong contender for paving Oneplus’s entry into the Luxe segment. The two Smartphones with which it would stand in competition in the eyes of consumers – iPhone XR and Samsung Galaxy S10 are 18 per cent and 27 per cent pricier than Oneplus 7Pro.”
