Chinese premium smartphone maker OnePlus trebles net profit in India

India is considered a tough smartphone market in the world. If you have any doubt ask tech giant Apple, which is having a bumpy ride in the country.

Maybe, it can learn a lot from Chinese counterpart OnePlus. The Chinese smartphone manufacturer has tripled its revenue in FY18. OnePlus’ India revenue swell to Rs 150 crore in FY18 from Rs 37.9 crore in 2016-17.

The company's net profit took a 3.1X jump to Rs 2.8 crore from Rs 90.1 lakh during the last fiscal, as per RoC documents. Last year, around one-third of OnePlus’s revenue $1.4 billion came from the world’s second-largest smartphone market.

The premium smartphone maker primarily targets millennials and usually introduces a single new smartphone model every year using premium chips, screens and materials.

Recently, it overtook Samsung and Apple to become the largest brand in the Rs 30K-plus premium smartphone market.

According to Counterpoint Research, OnePlus captured 40 per cent of the market share then.

The company after its entry in the country four years ago has been growing at a fast pace. The major online sales for the company happens through Amazon. Whereas it sells offline through Croma and Reliance Digital stores.

Apart from setting up its second global headquarter, the Oppo-owned phone brand has also been reported to launch a range of smart television in partnership with Amazon in India.

This will further make the brand OnePlus stronger in the country. Another Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has already forayed in this segment.

In comparison, other premium smartphones also did average business in India. This year Apple sales stood at Rs 13,097 crore, majorly driven by its iPhones and Mac computers.
Apple accounts for 1 per cent of India’s phone sales and sold fewer than 1 million phones there during the first half of 2018.

Samsung India, which operates in multiple models, sales touched Rs 37,349 crore.

However, in the broader smartphone market, OnePlus does not figure in top five, which include Samsung, Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo and Huawei.

India will have almost 500 million users in the next three years, according to eMarketer. As per industry veterans, the next year will better than last year in terms of smartphone shipments in India.