India is a battleground for global smartphone manufacturers. And to optimise operational efficiency and speed up decision-making capabilities, top-tier OEMs such as Samsung and Xiaomi have been setting up large manufacturing capabilities.
While Samsung had recently opened the world largest mobile phone production unit in the world, Xiaomi has announced three new plants to strengthen local fulfilment capabilities in April this year.
Taking a leaf out of top two smartphone brands in India, OnePlus has been setting up its second global headquarter in India.
The BBK Electronics Corporation (Guangdong, China-based) marketed premium smartphone brand is also setting up an R&D centre in South India (Hyderabad or Bengaluru) by the end of this calendar year.
BBK markets portfolio of smartphone brands such as OnePlus, Vivo as well as Oppo.
The R&D center will have about 50 headcounts to assist local manufacturing unit. Importantly, it’s also doubling down servicing (after sales) ability by establishing 13 more centres. Currently, it has 12 centers across several cities in India.
Besides, OnePlus is also planning five offline experience centres to bolster community.
Recently, OnePlus had left Apple behind to become the number one premium smartphone brand in India. It claimed to have a 25 per cent market share in the segment ( Q1 2018). With the popularity of OnePlus 6T, the company has been gaining quick grounds.
Apart from the smartphone, OnePlus is also weighing chances of launching a range of smart television. The move is likely to be driven by Xiaomi success into television vertical.
Since India has become the fastest market for Xiaomi and OnePlus, their need to have local manufacturing and headquarter are crucial as well as conducive to national policy. With OnePlus setting up second global headquarter after Shenzhen, chances of it emerging more potent brand in the premium segment in India gets stronger.
The development was first reported by BusinessLine.
