Prabhu RamThe OnePlus is a nifty, and nimble startup that goes to extraordinary lengths to deliver exceptional customer experience. Making great premium smartphones with brilliant build and design pedigree is one part of the OnePlus DNA. The other is to not compromise on quality, and yet making it available to users at great prices. To top it, OnePlus genuinely invests itself in understanding user concerns and challenges, and strives to solve them. In hindsight, “never settle” is more than a motto. It’s a discipline that propels the OnePlus brand.
With its two flagship phones a year formula, OnePlus keeps the demand and consumer engagement with the brand high with limited production runs. Invariably, the second flagship comes with incremental innovations that push the envelope further. Sandwiched in between the two flagship launches, are limited edition OnePlus phones in vivid colors.
However, with each new generation of the OnePlus, it finds itself in a choppy sea of sameness, wherein the design aesthetics, the specifications, as well as the components are all alike amongst flagships. With new entrants, including sub-brands from Huawei and Xiaomi aiming at the entry-level premium segment, OnePlus has its task cut out with the OnePlus 6T to evolve, establish and further its cred as a mainstream brand.
Coming to the OnePlus 6T, its debut marks a highpoint for the OnePlus brand, and the journey it has been on for the past five years.
The OnePlus 6T, improves on the OnePlus 6, and comes with a gorgeous and crisp OLED display, with a smaller chin at the bottom and a tiny teardrop-shaped notch at the top. The OnePlus 6T comes with Snapdragon 845, 6-8GB of RAM and at least 128GB of storage as in the OnePlus 6. While it does not have wireless charging yet, the OnePlus 6T charges pretty swifty with its fast charger, and the battery lasts long deliver exceptional performance, compared to other brands.
While other hardware specs between the 6 and 6T’s cameras remain the same, the 6T is equipped with software updates that enhance the overall camera experience. The new Nightscape mode in 6T is similar to the long-exposure on the Huawei P20 Pro that picks out details the human eye can barely see.
In addition, the 6T comes with “Studio Lighting,” a feature that works in the background and delivers studio-grade, professional, and yet natural photos of people.
As with previous OnePlus generations, what clearly differentiates OnePlus from other brands is the software experience via the OxygenOS. OxygenOS is based on Android, and the OnePlus 6T comes equipped with the Oxygen OS version based on the latest Android 9 Pie.
OnePlus 6T is probably one of the biggest bet that OnePlus has made, making it more widely available across platforms, channels and new markets.
As the brand grows and becomes more truly global, OnePlus would need to look at creative strategies to ensure that the customer fatigue does not set in, with its two flagships a year formula. There is only so much that OnePlus can pack-in, with each new smartphone. As it enters new geographies, and vies for new customers, it would need to ensure that the consumers find its successive generation of OnePlus smartphones within a year relevant.
