Earlier this year when the fourth generation flagship killer the OnePlus 5 was announced, it was in the limelight for all bad reasons. Firstly, for copying the design from the Apple iPhone 7 Plus and second for claiming that their device offered an X2 optical zoom, in reality, their device just had the capability to offer X1.6 optical zoom, and finally, the software tweaking that made the device to score extra points on the benchmarking websites like Antutu.
After all these fiasco, the device was almost forgotten by the smartphone enthusiasts and here are the reasons for the same.
Though OnePlus packed top of the line specifications like Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, up to 8 GB LPDDR4 RAM as well as 128 GB onboard flash storage, the device was missing certain key aspects, which made the device outdated in just a few months of its actual launch.
For the first time, a OnePlus smartphone was priced more than INR 35,000, which instantly kills the philosophy behind the OnePlus brand. Earlier their devices were known for the top of the line specifications at an affordable price tag, as soon as the company launches the OnePlus 3T, the company was looking for profit. Even the company started endorsing their device with big stars, which is also the reason for the higher price tag.
The display is another aspect, where it failed to gain the momentum. When the first OnePlus smartphone, the OnePlus 1 was launched few years before, it was one of the selling points (1080p panel with 5.5-inch real estate) However, even after four years, there is no change in the display resolution and aspect ratio. Until now, the OnePlus branded smartphones are using 16:9 aspect ratio screen, where the competition is moved to 18:9 aspect ratio screen with QHD resolution, HRD support and many more display-centric features.
No dust or water resistance certification: Buying a smartphone by shelling out more than $25,000 is a huge investment. After that, a user is likely to look for a smartphone, that offers water and dust resistance featured smartphone to be on the safer side. Most of the OEM’s including Nokia, Sony, HTC, Apple, Samsung, and LG offers IP rating for the premium smartphone, but the OnePlus fails to do so.
After sale software support also plays an important role, which ensures that the customer will stay loyal to the brand. However, OnePlus is not so promising, when it comes to delivering promises made. When OnePlus 2 was launched, the company claimed to offer Android Nougat support, however, after few months of the launch of OnePlus 3, the brand announced that the device will not receive Android Nougat update. Now it’s the OnePlus 3T, which is not even a year old smartphone and the brand has no plans to upgrade it to Android P, which makes the user sticks with the different OEM’s which pushes out constant software updates which adds new security features.
It looks like OnePlus is planning to launch their upcoming flagship smartphone OnePlus 5T /6 in the early 2017 January which should solve these problems. Hope, OnePlus launches a smartphone with everything being fixed up this time.
What do you think about the OnePlus 5? Does it require a brand ambassador to promote the brand? or the word to mouth marketing was good enough for the company? Shower your views in the comments below.