A rising star of both the Asian and global mobile landscape, China-based OnePlus should soon branch out toeven more affordable, lower-end phones, and in order to better handle Indian demand, it’ll start locally manufacturing devices before long.
Why India of all places? Three main reasons. First, domestic smartphone penetration sat at a humble 30 percent in 2014, compared to 60+ for China in Q1 2015. Needless to point out we’re talking the world’s second-most populous country, with over 1.2 billion people, and a tremendous gadget growth potential.
Second, OnePlus already posted pretty impressive sales results in India, pushing 250,000 Ones in 10 months, and no less than 15K 2 units in 12 minutes yesterday, during the one-hour open sale. And third, the local government seeks to encourage foreign companies to set up shop in the region through an initiative called “Make in India”, which has attracted Xiaomi, Lenovo, Asus, and Gionee within just a year of its inception.
Much like rivals Xiaomi, Asus, and Gionee, the fledgling Chinese OEM will join forces with world-leading Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn. Foxconn’s countless factories spread from Asia to Europe, Mexico, and Brazil, and one such facility in Andhra Pradesh shall be used to put together OnePlus Ones, 2s, and eventually Xs or Minis.
The long-term goal is to cover all local demand this way, as well as ditch the invitation system, and possibly lower prices too as a consequence of dodging import fees. But that’s probably in the distant future. In the short run, the best you could hope for are a few repeats of the experimental Bangalore 60-minutes-or-free delivery program.
Source: The Economic Times
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