The Once Flagship Killer company is now settling too much
Never Settle has been (is still) the go-to mantra for OnePlus. The company has established itself as a premium smartphone brand in India as well as in other countries by launching top-of-the-level flagship smartphones.
Providing flagship specs at an affordable price was the main strength of OnePlus. But it also has one ace up its sleeve that’s more noteworthy than any of its premium features.
Yes, we’re talking about the OnePlus community – the secret ingredient that turned the smartphone maker into one of the leading players in the competitive Indian market.
The company listens to the community, whether it’s bug issues or product improvements or simply discussing how to optimally use OnePlus phones. This community feedback feature is the reason why OnePlus has been able to differentiate itself from its competitors.
But lately, there has been increasing criticism, concerns, and negative feedback surrounding the company.
As a OnePlus (7) user myself, I can see a change in OnePlus’s strategy and thoughts which is the reason for all this obstructive criticism.
So what exactly is going wrong ?
Without further ado, let us find out the answer(s).
Flagship Killer – Not Anymore
During its inception, OnePlus priced its flagship smartphones at an affordable rate. This was the prime reason, the company got attention all over the smartphone world.
OnePlus One (first flagship) has sold over one million units, despite the company planning to sell up to 50,000 units.
Slowly things were changing and OnePlus decided to play with the big guns like Apple and Samsung and started launching premium smartphones at a modest price.
Don’t get me wrong, for the price that was quoted, OnePlus was still a considerable buy compared to Apple and Samsung flagships. Smartphones like OnePlus 5/5T were more modern and appealing to the consumers and they also had the same modest pricing, unlike other OEM flagships.
But beginning from the launch of the OnePlus 6 series, the pricing has crossed the “flagship killer” threshold mark.
The company has started pricing its smartphones in the same league as Samsung and Apple.
This has saddened consumers as well as OnePlus’s own fan community. The once Flagship Killer has moved away from its own vision/mission “provide flagship specs at an affordable price”.
Never Settle – But Settling down
Time and time again, OnePlus phones have come under scrutiny for their less-than-stellar camera performance, despite having good hardware on paper.
Even with the steadily upward trajectory in pricing, the company has simply not delivered an equivalent improvement in camera quality, a key aspect of premium hardware.
OnePlus has been using tried-and-tested sensors across its portfolio. And yet, somehow, out-of-the-box results leave a lot to be desired. This needs to change.
OnePlus’s budget offering ‘Nord’ came under heavy criticism for not delivering the “flagship-like camera experience” OnePlus promised.
The camera software just doesn’t match the capabilities of its camera sensors, despite being the best in the market
Even in their latest flagship OnePlus 9 Pro, the camera capabilities are not matching the likes of the Apple iPhone or Samsung Galaxy S series.
The recent partnership with Hasselblad to improve the color science of their current flagships has not drastically changed anything for OnePlus in the camera segment.
Oxygen OS – Unnecessary Changes
One of the main strengths of OnePlus is its software, OxygenOS. Built on top of Android, the OS provides a stock Android experience with some useful enhancements to it.
But even this changed in OxygenOS version 11. OxygenOS 11 has veered from its loyalty to stock Android and has taken a similar direction to OneUI, Samsung’s Android User Interface.
There are also pre-installed applications that are not always so easy to remove from your OnePlus smartphone. The Facebook bloatware, for example, has generated plenty of negative attention, which apparently prompted the manufacturer to get rid of it on the OnePlus 8T and 9 series.
The promise of a “bloatware-free” UI that was once touted by OnePlus has lost its luster and credibility
Well, there can be others with different opinions. But from my point of view, OnePlus has taken a bit too much inspiration from Samsung’s OneUI, for both good and worse.
Hope, there won’t be too many bloatware and drastic changes in the future iterations of OxygenOS.
Budget phones – Next Xiaomi ?
Last year, OnePlus stepped into a new era (not returning to an old one) by launching its first mid-range smartphone, the OnePlus Nord. The smartphone appeared to be a solid mid-range option, but it was not perfect.
Even though it was well-specced, in reality, OnePlus Nord didn’t get the most out of all its hardware. But still, the smartphone got positive reviews from critics for its “bang for the buck” performance.
While this mid-range strategy is a welcome sign from OnePlus, not everything is good as it appears.
With the launch of more low-cost options like the OnePlus Nord N10 and N100, OnePlus is now following the same footsteps of Xiaomi and Realme in this segment.
I don’t want OnePlus to mimic Xiaomi or any other OEM for this matter.
OnePlus has always been the company that sold flagship specs at a killer price. Even in this mid-range segment, they should stick to the same approach.
Releasing low-cost phones with mediocre performance is not the right solution to get consumer attention.
Releasing Uncooked products – “Watch” out!
OnePlus’ first smartwatch “OnePlus Watch” was launched this year with much fanfare. It was decently priced over the competition and appeared to be a good option.
Things didn’t go well, here either.
The smartwatch missed a lot of features on what makes a smartwatch smart. Reviewers called this product, limited in features and also having several bugs.
This is the first time I have seen OnePlus releasing an unfinished product into the market, just to keep up with the competition.
Repeats like this again from OnePlus will hit the company bad in a lot of ways.
Conclusion
The old OnePlus has to come back.
Being a huge fan of OnePlus, it hurts to see the company changing its track and forgetting its legacy that it once stood for. I am really hoping OnePlus will listen to this widespread criticism and get back to where it belongs to.
While OnePlus continues to innovate more in the tech space, there is still a lot of catching up to do with other OEMs like Apple or Samsung, at least in the camera segment.
For the better, OnePlus should redeem themselves, before it is too late.
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