(File photo)

BARCELONA: India has become the biggest market for premium smartphone maker One-Plus, ahead of home market China and the US. The company is now planning to set up its largest R&D centre at Hyderabad — bigger than the China centre — while working towards exporting the India-made devices to China and other western countries.

Breathing down the neck of Samsung while moving ahead of Apple last year, the company is now planning a major thrust to boost its retail presence even as it works towards launching 5G devices in India.

Pete Lau, founder of One-Plus, said the company — part of the BBK group that also sells Vivo and Oppo — has been experiencing fast-paced growth in its India sales. “While we are present in nearly 40 countries, India is one of the most important market for OnePlus globally,” Lau told TOI here.

The company, which manufactures its devices at the India factory of Oppo, began operations around five years back, and has been launching models under the OnePlus brand series, the latest being OnePlus 6T, which is priced at around Rs 38,000.

According to Counterpoint Research, the share of OnePlus in the premium devices market (priced above Rs 30,000) has increased from 2% in 2016 to as much as 33% at the end of last year. In the same period, the share of Samsung has fallen from 49% to 34% while for Apple the decline has been from 44% to 23%.

Lau said that a superior manufacturing quality and a strong focus on consumer needs has been one of the reasons that helped the company gain traction with premium buyers. “We have a policy of working across various cultures with a very diverse and open set-up across the countries where we operate. The global nature of our business has helped us shape and develop products that have found acceptance by buyers across markets such as China, India and the US.”

Lau visits India many times in a year, and says that the idea to set up the R&D centre in the market came in as its share

with the buyers went up considerably. “We wanted to be closer to the market. Currently, we have around 100 engineers at the R&D centre and this can go up to around 300 over the next two years. Overall, we have a space to house 1,000 engineers.”

And after tasting success with mobile phones, the company is now planning to launch its premium televisions in India. “This is on the horizon. We feel that the current generation of TVs in India requires a major overhaul, and thus we have decided to launch our range here. You can expect the TVs to be launched later this year.”

The company is also working on plans to bring in its 5G devices in India once the telecom eco-system for the highspeed network comes into place. “It is on the horizon, and we plan to get them as soon as the support networks are in place.”

After starting strongly through the online sales channels, OnePlus is now making attempts to make a mark in the brick-and-mortar set-up, especially after the change in the country’s e-retail policy.

Lau said offline expansion of retail is also being worked out as the brand expands its reach in the market.

( Th e writer is in Barcelona at the invitation of OnePlus )

