Hola fellas! Get some popcorn popping coz this is gonna be interesting.
It all began in 2018, the year when Apple India witnessed the stuff that nightmares are made of. It was the year when the land of mighty Apple sold just 1.7 million iPhones in India as compared to 3.2 million they sold in 2017. In other words, iPhone sales in India fell by nearly 50%!
While a lot of factors contributed to iPhone’s underwhelming performance in the premium segment of the smartphone market, experts believe that OnePlus’ meteoric rise is what turned out to be a game changer.
While Apple lost ground in the over $400 (Rs. 28,310) price band, OnePlus clocked its highest ever shipment of one quarter in just three months. This drove the overall smartphone average selling price in the online space from $156 to $166. And according to stats, Shenzhen based OnePlus currently holds over 37% of the premium smartphone segment in India.
Moreover, the atrocious prices of the latest iPhone models (iPhone Xs series and iPhone Xr) and the not so great dollar to rupee conversion value have done little (and by little I mean nothing) to tempt the people to go and blow up their budgets for the iPhone upgrade. What a surprise!
But the good thing is that Apple is learning from its mistakes and trying to right its wrongs. In hopes of redemption, Apple is focusing on coming up with affordable iPhones, streamlining processes, opening its walled ecosystem in India and more. Meanwhile, OnePlus is busy hatching its evil plan to dethrone Apple and claim the title of the King for itself.
And for now, OnePlus has successfully positioned itself as a premium brand that feeds the materialistic culture of Apple fanboys and the geeky demands of Android lovers. Because, let’s be honest, no everyday consumer would actually require a smartphone that runs a Snapdragon 845 processor and has 8 GB of RAM with a killer camera.
Buying an Apple or a OnePlus is not a decision that’s made out of logic. It’s more of a luxury buy that adds little more glamor and class to your life than what a Samsung or a Xiaomi would. But if a consumer is willing to shell thousands of rupees to get a premium phone, they would still want to get the bang for their buck, and that’s where OnePlus is winning. For now!
