For the longest time, OnePlus has been the undisputed king of the budget flagship smartphone segment in India. Anyone looking for a flagship phone in the Rs. 30,000 to Rs. 40,000 price bracket would just naturally choose OnePlus over everything else. Mostly because there really wasn’t any competition.
OnePlus launched the OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro in May this year, and they seemed to be continuing OnePlus’ legacy of making budget flagships. At the very least, the OnePlus 7 was the main OnePlus phone, with the OnePlus 7 Pro built to showcase what the company could achieve — a 90Hz bezel-less curved high-resolution display, bigger battery, a pop-up camera. The OnePlus 7 Pro’s display looks absolutely stunning
Asus 6z
Then, in June, Asus brought the Asus 6z to India with its flip-camera design, top-of-the-line specs, and everything else at a price that undercut the price of the OnePlus 7, bringing everything that the OnePlus 7 brought to the table, along with stock Android.
Redmi K20 Pro
Last year, Xiaomi took shots at OnePlus with the Poco F1, which by the way is still one of the better budget phones out there what with all the price cuts, and the soon-to-arrive MIUI 11 update. This year, Xiaomi went all out with the Redmi K20 Pro. A bezel-less flagship with an AMOLED display, the Snapdragon 855, pop-up cameras, and a big battery. Everything you’d get from OnePlus, for just Rs. 27,999, with the high-end 8GB/256GB variant available at just Rs. 30,999.
The ROG Phone 2 dropped in India right before the OnePlus 7T launch happened, and that’s when things started to change.
It was immediately clear that the ROG Phone 2 was taking a shot at OnePlus’ dominance in that price segment. So when the OnePlus 7T launched at its Rs. 37,999 price tag it was obviously compared with the ROG Phone 2, and that phone poses a good threat to OnePlus’ dominance.
Red Magic 3S
Hammering in another nail in the proverbial coffin of OnePlus’ market dominance in India, Nubia launched the Red Magic 3S recently.
Nubia went ahead and priced the Red Magic 3S at just Rs. 35,999 for the base 8GB/128GB variant, undercutting the price of the OnePlus 7T, which honestly is the only new OnePlus phone worth considering, with the OnePlus 7T Pro being, in my opinion, a phone that OnePlus shouldn’t have made.
With all the great smartphones being launched in the exact same price bracket as OnePlus’ main flagships, there’s good reason for OnePlus to worry in India. True, the regular smartphone user who’s looking for a flagship in this price bracket would probably still go with OnePlus — the OnePlus 7T does, after all, look better than both the ROG Phone 2, and the Red Magic 3S, and it also has a better camera (although I haven’t tested the cameras on the Red Magic 3S, but I’m fairly certain it won’t match up to the OnePlus 7T).
