You either die a Flagship Killer or live long enough to see yourself become the Flagship - OnePlus
Ever since I read this comment(which is in the title of course) in one of Dave Lee's videos about OnePlus, it certainly explains the current state of the brand. The journey of OnePlus has been quite interesting, the transition of the brand from a Flagship killer to a full-fledged flagship. We get a reminder of how fast the dynamics of the SmartPhone Industry can change after looking at OnePlus, how they shifted their aim from Speed and Performance to delivering a more Premium Flagship experience in an all-round package. The "Never Settle" brand is finally getting settled in the Premium segment.
Even talking about this Flagship Killer category, the most prominent term in the Smartphone Industry with the core philosophy of giving flagship smartphone experience at a much affordable price point is getting rare lately.
OnePlus: Long history with Flagship killers
OnePlus, the pioneer of the concept of Flagship killers in 2014 has come a long way since then. OnePlus One, the first phone from the brand was a killer phone at that time. The specs versus the price ratio was just insane. The well-established brands offering such specs at a flagship price were undercut by a Chinese brand delivering the same flagship-level performance at half the price of the competitors. It was a kind of destruction that no one expected in this segment. Next up, the OnePlus 2 was a missed opportunity for the brand as they cut some corners in the second iteration of their flagship, and the invite system did not work out this time. Since then, the success graph of the brand has gone higher over years. OnePlus 3, 3t, 5, 5t, 6, 6T all these phones were on the same philosophy for what the brand had started their business, providing the best in class performance at an affordable price. Yes, the prices of each phone were creeping up with every next iteration.
After a Long time came in 2019 when the brand tried their first attempt in making a flagship with the 7 Pro, and everyone liked the product for what it was offering at that time still, undercutting premium phones in pricing by a significant margin. The features like a 90 Hz high refresh rate display and the Ufs 3.0 storage were rare in the commercial phones of 2019, and OnePlus became the first brand to offer these features with the 7 Pro. We all knew that OnePlus is going to be ambitious from now on, and they proved it again in 2020 by launching the 8 Pro as their true flagship with all the bells and whistles. These 8 series devices saw more than a 50% jump in the pricing when compared with the last generation. And now comes the 9 series the transition of a brand from flagship killer to a flagship has just completed. The new Hasselblad partnership for the 9 series Smartphones is a step in the right direction. OnePlus is now looking to compete with the big boys of the Smartphone Industry like Apple and Samsung in the SmartPhone Photography Experience. That is the area that OnePlus has lacked since the beginning. The $150 investment in the partnership with the Hasselblad for the next 3 years is certainly a big thing for OnePlus who had prioritized the Speed and Performance of a Smartphone above anything else in the beginning. They are now looking to sit next to Samsung and Apple in the Premium Smartphone Segment.
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| OnePlus 9 Pro in its glory Credits: Android Central |
Why Flagship killers are dying slowly?
From the year 2019, there has been a steep price increase in the Smartphone Industry. More and more Smartphones are touching that 1000$ price bracket that used to be rare a few years back. There are a lot of reasons for it. Qualcomm, the main culprit of the whole scenario is offering the latest-gen Flagship 800 series at a much-inflated price. Since the day they introduced the 5G modem, they are charging a lot more premium from the manufacturers. The monopoly that Qualcomm has in this segment is majorly affecting the Global Smartphone Prices. And it's not just processors, every component of a Smartphone is getting expensive with each passing day.
The recent trend of brands introducing their ultra-premium phones costing more than 1400$ has led to the price bracket of flagship killers expanding. You can not expect a budget flagship phone to cost around 400$ these days as they have got into the 500$ to 700$ price category.
One other aspect of this scenario is the advancement that has been made in Display and Camera technology. The features like 120Hz HDR10+ Oled panel and the setup of Quad rear cameras with the primary sensor having a big size and more megapixels count are costing much more to the Smartphone OEMs in comparison to a few years back. These features have become the Fundamentals for making a good SmartPhone whether it is in the budget category or the Premium flagship territory.
How difficult it is to create a budget Flagship these days, Poco India is the perfect example. Poco F1, the extremely Popular phone in recent years, has not received a proper update to the next iteration yet in India. The increasing GST and the Currency conversion rates have made it much more difficult for the brand to recreate the same magic as Poco F1 and it’s not just like, only the current market dynamics is the reason for it. If in case, the brand recreates the same product as Poco F1 by updating only the Processor and keeping everything else the same then, how many users are going to buy it? Maybe, very few of them will even show any interest in a product like that. I think the true definition of a flagship killer smartphone has shifted from only performance-focused to a more balanced product over the years, and this does kill the whole concept for what this product category existed for so long.
Making Flagship Killers is not a profitable business model in the Long term.
Isn't it obvious? Making Flagship killers is not a profitable business for a brand in the long term. They operate at a really thin margin of profits and no new Smartphone brand would ever do that apart from a few of the established ones. But The truth is that no Smartphone Oem wants to be associated as the manufacturer of only budget flagship for a lifetime. These phones come with a lot of compromises to satisfy a small group of consumers. In the practical world, most users don’t even care how good the Performance of their Smartphone is, they want a good phone that can handle day-to-day usage and should have a good camera experience and, this is the area where these flagship killers take a big hit so that, they can keep the prices down to fit in this category. The success of Galaxy A51 as the top-selling Android Phone all over the world proves the same.
We have seen brands finishing off if they have followed this strategy in the long term without any support. Just for an example, look at where Essential is now, the brand having so much backing and funds got thrown out of the Smartphone Industry just because they stuck to the philosophy of making performance-focused products for enthusiasts and not the normal users. In reality, no manufacturer would want that fate. Do they?
We have to understand that smartphone enthusiasts represent a small number of people, they are not going to affect the OEMs’ sales number by any significant margin. Smartphone brands are not here to satisfy these Enthusiasts, they are here to make profits and what works in this Industry, these OEMs know that properly. There are numerous examples of phones which were turned down by the Enthusiasts of the Industry but they did turn out to be a huge hit in the consumer market. The Phones from the Galaxy A series is the perfect example of this.
OnePlus starting the Upper Midrange game
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| OnePlus Nord the budget offering from the brand Credits: GSM Arena |
Nord was an overall package, and the Oxygen Os made the smartphone the most favorable choice for the consumers wanting to buy a good SmartPhone in the Upper Midrange segment. The success of OnePlus Nord as a Product especially in a country like India has proven that People do value the overall experience rather than bettering out one or two features in a smartphone.
Product Marketing: The Trump Card
The recent case of LG shutting down its Smartphone business is one fine example of how an average product marketing strategy can lead to a brand going into debt. It was not like LG was not making any good products, but the product marketing after the launch event was horrible. You can not expect a product to do well if no one exactly knows about your product. Marketing plays a huge role which we seem to ignore in our perception.
If the Enthusiasts and Tech Experts had to be believed by OnePlus Nord would have been the biggest flop of the last year, but this was not the actual case. OnePlus sold a lot more phones in a quarter than they had ever imagined. Marketing and hype around a product make a big difference in the final sale number, and as I said earlier, OnePlus has mastered it from the last few launches.
It's a tried and proven fact that Product Marketing does help in the success of a Product. The Avengers star Mr. Robert Downey Jr. endorsing OnePlus SmartPhones has helped them in reaching more users in Asian countries. One negative aspect that I can see is that the marketing comes with the additional cost, and it does get passed down to the consumers directly.
Wrapping Up
In my opinion, it was a necessary step for OnePlus to correct its position in the Smartphone Industry, and I would not be surprised if the 9 series outsells the 8 series or any older generation OnePlus Phone by quite a significant margin. I am sure that the OnePlus 9 series will appeal to a wider section of consumers globally. The current sales numbers are looking promising for the Brand in European as well as Asian countries.
And for the enthusiasts, we should change our perception of OnePlus as a Flagship killer to a brand that makes Premium Phones. They are the only Chinese brand to ever achieve success on the US shores. Yes, the 'Never Settle' brand has finally settled in the Premium segment. And now the search for a new Flagship killer starts again. Is it going to be Poco, Iqoo, Realme or, any new debutant in the Industry only time will tell.
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