Oneplus: Flagship Killer? Maybe. Beast? Definitely.

The Indian smartphone market is a constant battle between the premium high-end phones and the pocket-friendly, mid-tier phones. Amidst all this is the recently launched OnePlus 7 Pro. OnePlus has been associated with premium hardware at mid-tier prices, thus bringing the best of both worlds in one big package.

The OnePlus 7 Pro lines up with the company’s identity. It is the company’s newest and best-ever smartphone till date. It’s got one of the biggest and finest displays on the smartphone market and has got curved edges like the ones you’d find on devices like Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus or the Huawei Mate 20 Pro.

With the latest addition to their smartphone line-up, some would argue that while OnePlus has stayed true to its mantra of “Never Settle”, the company has however deviated a bit from its “Flagship Killer” title that was long associated with it since the OnePlus One that launched 5 years ago in 2014.

Over the years, the OnePlus has evolved and so have its phones. From the sandstone back of the OnePlus One and Two to an all-glass back on the OnePlus 7 Pro, the company has come leaps and bounds in the smartphone market.

OnePlus has always been the company to offer premium, high-end hardware at mid-tier prices and the statement holds true for the OnePlus 7 Pro as well as the device comes packed with top-notch specs like the latest processor, up to 12 GB RAM and 256 GB internal storage. Gone are the days when you would have to delete old photos from your phone to download a new game. Smartphones these days come with so much storage and RAM that you probably don’t even require a laptop or a PC to keep a backup.

While the OnePlus Community (the loyal fans of the brand, as OnePlus likes to call them) has been fairly happy with the company’s offerings, critics have always pointed out the sub-par camera infrastructure in OnePlus phones. The company has been trying for long to shut these critics up and in a bid to do just that, the OnePlus 7 Pro houses a triple camera setup which can take stunning photos in any and all conditions, as promised by the company.

OnePlus still has a long way to go to be the undisputed camera champion as Samsung, Huawei, Google and Apple are all miles ahead in the camera department on their respective smartphones. But OnePlus is not looking to back down and as the company’s mantra says, it will “never settle” for anything but the best.

Smartphone prices have always been a hotly debated topic. As Apple continues to push the boundaries with their $999 iPhones in the US which converts to almost Rs 1,00,000 in India (post taxes and profit), smartphone prices just keep on rising. When OnePlus launched, the company committed itself to providing the best hardware and software at prices which were way lower than what the usual flagships charged, thus earning its title of the “Flagship Killer”.

The OnePlus One, launched in 2014, retailed for Rs 21,999 which was way below the 35k-45k mark that Samsung, Apple and others charged at the time for similar specs and performance. Fast forward to May, 2019 and the price of the OnePlus 7 Pro is Rs 48,999 which is more than double than that of the first generation. However, it is important to note that in the same time, numerous companies have crossed the Rs 70,000 mark like Samsung with the Galaxy S10 Plus, Huawei Mate 20 Pro, Google Pixel 3 XL, iPhone X, XS, XS Max and even the “budget friendly” iPhone XR.

With their latest flagship, OnePlus may no longer be the undisputed “Flagship Killer”, but it is sure to turn a few heads as the company goes toe to toe with the best smartphones on the market currently and aims to take a huge chunk of the market for themselves. OnePlus is not looking to slow down and is a force to be reckoned with.