OnePlus Said To Be Working on New Phone Under Rs 20,000, What This Could Mean

OnePlus is reportedly working on a new smartphone that could cost under Rs 20,000 in India. The information comes from tipster Yogesh Brar on Twitter, though almost all details related to the phone remains unclear. The tweet notes that Oppo, OnePlus’ sister brand under the parent firm BBK Electronics, is “dictating the terms” to launch a budget device in the second quarter of 2022. Since 2020, OnePlus has been launching the more affordable Nord series to compete against brands like Xiaomi and Samsung in India and globally.

Currently, OnePlus sells more ‘affordable’ smartphones under the Nord series that still aims to retain the company’s ‘flagship killer’ mantra. From the original OnePlus Nord (2020) to OnePlus Nord 2 (2021) and OnePlus Nord CE in between, all three smartphones have come with premium feauters such as AMOLED screens, 5G connectivity, and fast charging support. Notably, the OnePlus Nord 2 even houses MediaTek’s flagship chipset, the Dimensity 1200 SoC. OnePlus has been credited to bring powerful Nord smartphones under Rs 35,000 price mark. Currently, the OnePlus Nord CE 5G’s price in India starts at Rs 24,999 while, the Nord 2 costs Rs 27,999.

If the rumours are accurate, it would be a big shift in the company’s philosophy as OnePlus has traditionally offered smartphones in the mid-budget segment (except OnePlus X in 2015). However, its flagship smartphones’ prices have been gradually increasing, nearing the 70,000-mark. For instance, its current flagships with Hasselblad-tuned cameras, OnePlus 9 cost goes up to Rs 50,999, and the OnePlus 9 Pro’s price goes up to Rs 67,999. With a sub-Rs 20,000 smartphone, the company would hope to keep its feet on the ground and rival Xiaomi’s Redmi brand, Poco and other brands like Micromax, Motorola, Nokia, and more that dominate the budget segment. It will be also interesting to see whether OnePlus would add bloatware to the phones to maintain the cost – a strategy adopted by many OEMs but criticised by pundits. OnePlus was criticised heavily for introducing Facebook bloatware on the OnePlus 8T, which they later pulled down. Since there’s no communication from the company yet, readers are advised to take the information with a pinch of salt.

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