Was OnePlus banned in India?
“OnePlus is having the highest market share in India for the range of premium smartphones with over 5 million users across the country & fifth largest premium smartphone brand in the world”
OnePlus was banned in India (in 2014) as there was a lawsuit filed by Micromax, that was not allowing any other smartphone manufacturers except Micromax, to sell smartphones loaded with CyanogenMod OS (don’t worry it’s not referring to name of a chemical from your 12th grade; it’s the name of a customized android operating system for mobile devices)
Later, the ban was lifted but the China-based smartphone manufacturer had to come up with their own customized android OS (popularly known as, Oxygen OS). But why the heck are we remembering that now?
Amid the current tensions between India and China, people of India are voluntarily opting for the boycott of Chinese goods. But, on the contrary, very recently OnePlus announced it’s premium mid-ranger “OnePlus Nord”
OnePlus Nord is a feature-packed smartphone at very decent pricing which will surely create a disruption in the smartphone industry. Just imagine, thousands of Indian fanboys (girls too!) of the brand, pre-booked the smartphone with a blind-fold i.e even before knowing the specifications and full-price of the device!
(Meanwhile, “Chinese goods boycott ”— cries behind the curtains)
Another point to be noted is, they’ve intentionally grabbed the attention of the Indian consumers as the Rs-25k variant of the Oneplus Nord is only available in India! KABOOM!
Here is my take:
This shows, Chinese smartphone manufacturers are pushing very hard in order to not get affected by the boycott but all countries (India too!) should agree to the fact that they are the leaders in the smartphone business!
Indian market is very price-sensitive for smartphones where the price-to-performance ratio should be well enough to sell more and that’s why Xiaomi has been successful in capturing the highest market share in entry-level & budget range smartphones as it gives much in less.
Look at 10 people around you and check their smartphone brands. I’m sure you’ll find most of the brands based in China! (If not, don’t sue me for it) These companies are promoting their products in India as “Make in India” but only few of them are purely in that direction as mostly these smartphones are just assembled in India!
FYI: BBK electronics (China) is the parent company of OnePlus, Oppo, Vivo, and Realme too!
When this boycott thing was going on, OnePlus 8 Pro was on sale in India, and guess what, the smartphone went out of stock in just 8 minutes. So frankly speaking, the boycott is not working and few brand surveys also add to this fact that there is “no impact of the boycott on sales of Chinese smartphones in the Indian market” as putting nationalism in the first place against money is pretty difficult and only few can do it.
Cutting off ties with some products of some country in a globalized world won’t work as a chip by the company of USA (Intel) is designed in China, manufactured in Taiwan, assembled in Malaysia, and is back to the USA!
It’s challenging, Getting self-reliant (“Aatma-Nirbhar”) in the smartphone industry for India is indeed challenging (not impossible, but boycott is not the solution) as there is no local or other country-brand that can possibly beat the Chinese vendors out there in the near future! I wish it arrives soon!
PS: All views expressed here are personal. I’m not provoking anti-China or anti-India campaign!
If you want to buy Chinese-smartphones — Run and get one & if you don’t want to buy — Run and build one!
References: FirstPost
