Many years ago, domestic consumers had a simple and crude way of buying mobile phones: “If you have money to buy Apple, you don’t have money to buy it. Domestically produced.” In that era, the products launched by Apple and Samsung were often synonymous with “high-end mobile phones”.
The reason behind it is not complicated. Under the question of “Why did you choose iPhone?”, the answer is nothing more than the following Several:
Aesthetics and design, you must have face when you take it out;
One step, smoothness and durability can’t hold back;
The brand itself constitutes the reason for purchase.
This is more or less the gap between domestically produced and first-line high-end mobile phones, and the objective phenomenon caused is the high-end price range There are very few domestic brands that can be seen.
But now, as the industry matures, on the one hand, after the sales of smartphones have been declining year after year, manufacturers have begun to pursue more There is room for growth; on the other hand, consumers have begun to pursue a better experience beyond configuration. So an industry phenomenon is: Many brands have launched their own sub-brands, specializing in cost-effective machines, while the parent brand has moved to the high-end market.
In this way, the competition of domestic mobile phone manufacturers has become a high-end competition to some extent.
As major domestic manufacturers abandon cost-effective labels to enter the high-end, those used by consumers to measure Apple mobile phones” Purchasing standards such as unique aesthetics, one step in place, value preservation, and good branding are also immediately reflected in the expectations for domestic high-end models.
After all, it’s time to change to a 5G mobile phone. Who will do it?
no compromise on aesthetics
As the youngest high-end mobile phone brand, OnePlus’s entry into the mobile phone industry is catching up with the 4G replacement The most tragic time of the opportunistic fight. The large-scale replacement of equipment caused by the advancement of communication technology has pushed the competition of domestic mobile phone manufacturers to an unprecedented climax.
When it comes to “aesthetics and design”, the characteristics of competition in this period are based on a lot of references to Apple’s design. Equipment with “low price” and “cost-effective” flooded into the market. And like all electronic products, the industrial design of mass-produced mobile phones is bound to dance with shackles. Can not exceed the limits of existing technology and supply chain, and need to make compromises in cost and function.
But in this environment, Liu Zuohu spared no effort in the design of OnePlus’ first product.
In 2014, the first OnePlus mobile phone was launched at the press conference. This mobile phone equipped with the highest flagship performance nowadays , Did not get too much introduction in the hardware configuration. Liu Zuohu spent a lot of time talking about their efforts in improving the appearance and grip of the back cover of the mobile phone. Finally, they found inspiration in the products of a Japanese paint company and contributed to the “BabySkin” back cover. This product has sold 1.5 million units without substantial marketing, and at the same time has gained considerable attention in overseas markets.
Liu Zuohu’s investment in mobile phones just hit the pain points ignored by manufacturers during this period: when major manufacturers can basically guarantee that the mobile phone configuration is flagship, it seems that the mobile phone configuration is only similar to Apple, and the cost-effective thinking Orientation will not bring a more unique design and feel to the phone.
From this point of view, OnePlus can be said to be the first among domestic manufacturers to pay attention to the industrial design and touch of mobile phones. One of the manufacturers.
When netizens and media commented on OnePlus, the word design seems to have formed a fixed match with the brand. Implicit in this evaluation is the unique recognition of the brand: in a market environment where major manufacturers focus on cost-effectiveness, they stubbornly improve those experiences that have not been taken seriously. In the eyes of those consumers who are full of expectations for design-rich mobile phones, OnePlus has clearly become the mobile phone manufacturer that “understands” them best.
One-step industry benchmark
If the persistence in beauty and design has brought consumers a more pleasant look and feel. Now that high-end has become an industry trend, OnePlus has more than once The land has brought consumers a “one-step” experience and demonstrated the ambition to become an industry benchmark.
Take the OnePlus 7 Pro released more than a year ago as an example. Although the price is close to the 5000 yuan level, it is still It became one of the most popular Android models at the time. This is largely due to the fact that it has the industry’s first AMOLED screen with 2K+ resolution and 90Hz refresh rate. When the user slides the phone, the frame rate of the animation in front of him is greatly increased, and the fluency is improved visible to the naked eye.
OnePlus’ groundbreaking improvement of screens was quickly imitated by mobile phone manufacturers and became the standard of today’s high-end phones. Match.
The OnePlus 8 Pro at the beginning of this year went further, not only increasing the refresh rate to 120Hz, but also increasing the screen sampling rate It’s 240Hz. When consumers slide their mobile phones, the system will receive the signal faster and start processing the picture. Let the screen perceive the consumer’s touch operation more quickly, and timely feedback on the high refresh screen.
Another detail is that this phone has two high-precision light sensors built into the front and back, which can detect more accurately Ambient light, fastAdjust the screen to the most suitable brightness, and the number of brightness adjustment levels has also been increased to 4096. Such details are not well done by most flagship Android phones.
As mentioned above, the high-end sense brought by the so-called screen is hidden in such a large number of minutiae. The reason why OnePlus chooses to use the screen is also very obvious: When a user picks up a mobile phone, what can actually affect the “high-end sense” of the mobile phone is more detailed experience brought about by the optimization of details. For example, the warm touch in the hand, the smooth feedback after lighting up the screen, and the right screen brightness under different light.
In addition to the pursuit of user experience, in the face of the upcoming 5G replacement wave, OnePlus has a grasp of the direction of leading technology Reflects a strong predictability.
At the Qualcomm Technology Summit in December 2018, Liu Zuohu made an opening speech for the event as an important guest, which seemed to indicate Carry out deeper cooperation. In fact, in 2017, the R&D team from Qualcomm had formally participated in OnePlus’ 5G project; and in August 2018, OnePlus successfully connected 5G in Qualcomm’s US laboratory. It is said that OnePlus’ research and deployment of 5G have already begun as early as 2016.
Introducing the 5G competition too early means that manufacturers will bear more development and trial and error costs. But for high-end users, 5G is an important product featurecan. Liu Zuohu once said publicly:
“The OnePlus community has more than 5.5 million users from 196 countries, most of which are technology fanatics They are willing to be the first to adopt new technologies. Two years ago, users in the community began to pay attention to and discuss 5G, which prompted OnePlus to make continuous progress on 5G.”
As a high-end OnePlus from the beginning, this kind of experience in detail and leading technology has a lot of The investment seems to be thankless, but as users continue to use it for a long time, these details will slowly release its due value, and make the equipment remain smooth and easy to use after a long time of use. The high-end machine’s “value preservation” “This is reflected.
According to the “Mobile Phone Value Index” rankings released by Huihuibao in September, OnePlus 7T, Meizu 16s Pro, Huawei Mate 30 5G won the top three positions, of which OnePlus even occupies two positions in the top 5.
If we take a closer look at the main products of OnePlus over the years, we will find that “no will be” is not just marketing solgan. It is the spiritual coordinate that has been implemented so far; and today, when major brands compete for high-end, OnePlus has established a more stable psychological value in the hearts of consumers.
The watchman of high-end brands
As mentioned above, today we can already see more new figures in the high-end field. Apple and Samsung are no longer Exclusive “high-end mobile phone” identity.
With the further quality improvement of domestic manufacturers and the advent of the tide of replacement, the focus of high-end will no longer be limited to Products, like Apple and Samsung, are reflected in consumers’ perception of the brand, and further release the value of the brand.
In this process, with the improvement of mobile phone quality, mobile phones made in China are also gaining recognition from overseas consumers. At present, more and more manufacturers have begun to deploy overseas markets, and even order brand-new mobile phones for specific markets. It is foreseeable that as domestic mobile phones continue to be high-end and internationalized, competition in the 5G era will not only center on the Chinese market.
The advantage of OnePlus is that from the beginning of its establishment, OnePlus has a very solid overseas mass base. Also understand the market demand of global high-end machine users better.
Behind the research and development of each new function, there are consumers from different countries and different needs who leave messages in the OnePlus mobile community Silhouette. This simple way of communication helped OnePlus sell 1.5 million units of its first mobile phone, of which overseas sales accounted for more than 60%. This tradition of communication has been continued by OnePlus and has become the key to their success in the global high-end market.
This may also explain why OnePlus can impress Robert Downey Jr. who rarely takes endorsement ads, and Let this mobile phone become the exclusive use of “Iron Man”. Liu Zuohu recalled in an interview with Shenzhen Net:
“That night our colleague from the United States drove from San Francisco to Los Angeles overnight, and took the 7 Pro Robert Downey, let him take a look at our products, tell him the concept of our brand, and then he quickly agreed. So this is also our product and brand concept that touched him, he also likes our Never Settle(not to be remarked).”
According to third-party sales data: In Q1 of 2020, OnePlus will be high-end in many regions around the world including Europe, America, the Middle East and Africa The mobile phone market share ranks among the top five. In the Indian market, OnePlus is the number one brand in the Indian high-end smartphone market in 2019. In China, today’s flagship new product OnePlus 8T series first sold over 100 million in one minute sales.
The establishment of a globalized high-end brand image and reputation has become the key to OnePlus’s market opening.
Obviously, what OnePlus wants to build is to truly focus on high-end brands. If it is said that the emphasis on user experience under the leading technology is the key for OnePlus to stand out from the bloody mobile phone competition. Then this emphasis on user experience will also become their biggest support in the high-end and facing the tide of 5G replacement, and even international competition.
More importantly, 7 years of polishing high-end products has allowed OnePlus to gradually establish high-end awareness in consumers’ hearts This will lay the most critical foundation for OnePlus in the fiercely competitive environment of the high-end market.