India will continue to be the first country in the world to experience any change in strategy brought about by the Chinese tech major OnePlus, said Navnit Nakra, Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, OnePlus India. The launch of OnePlus Nord, its foray into the affordable smartphone segment with the price starting at ₹24,999, happened concurrently in Europe and India on Tuesday.

“While the OnePlus Nord is launching in about 28 countries in Europe, it is also launching in India at the same time — so it is part of our commitment to be first in India for everything,” Nakra told BusinessLine . India continues to be a “very high focus market” for OnePlus, he added.

OnePlus Nord is a further extension of the company’s global and long-term strategy to expand its product portfolio, diversify, and be present in more affordable, accessible price points, he said.

“We realised that if we want more and more consumers to experience the brand, we need to expand to new product categories and, more importantly, into more accessible price points while keeping our quality promise the same and not compromising on what we do best — which is make great products,” said Nakra.

Mid-range market

The OnePlus Nord is aimed at the below $500 mid-range market segment, he said. In 2019, the mid-range segment of US $200-500 accounted for a year-on-year growth of 55.2 per cent, contributing 19.3 per cent of the overall smartphone market, as per an IDC India report in February 2020.

As a part of its strategy to diversify, OnePlus will be looking at expanding its audio portfolio, and the long-term goals will be set on creating a “connected accessible ecosystem”, said Nakra.

On whether the pandemic is leading to any change in strategy for the company in India, he said: “In terms of our strategy, we continue to invest in the country. Our investment of ₹1,000 crore (over the next three year) in the R&D centre in Hyderabad is less than a year old. We continue to build our teams in India across all segments on the sales and distribution.”

OnePlus plans to expand to more than 8,000 physical points of sale from the current 5,000 offline stores, he added. It currently has 300 employees in the R&D team and is looking at doubling that number in the coming months. The R&D centre is also focussing on a digital payments initiative, which it plans to launch by the end of the year.