OnePlus 8 series to be launched in India in next few months

Chinese premium smartphone maker OnePlus on Tuesday unveiled its latest flagship OnePlus 8 series that will be launched in India in the next few months.

The global launch comes at a time when the Indian government has extended the nationwide lockdown to May 3 to contain the spread of COVID-19 infections.

Given that smartphones have not been classified under the essential items category (like grocery and medicines), they are not allowed to be sold online or in physical stores amid the lockdown.

While the company did not provide a specific launch date for India, it said "the OnePlus 8 flagship series and the OnePlus Bullets Wireless Z will be available in India this summer".

It also did not disclose the India pricing of the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro.

In the US, the devices will be priced USD 699 onwards and will be available later this month.

OnePlus chose to unveil the devices via a webcast instead of an on-ground event in view of the coronavirus pandemic that has claimed thousands of lives globally.

The OnePlus 8 Pro includes features like 6.78-inch display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chipset, up to 12 GB RAM, quad rear camera set up (with 48MP main camera) and 4,510 mAh battery (with Warp Charge 30 Wireless charging solution).

The company said it will be among the the first in the industry to release a full line up of 5G devices in 2020.

According to Counterpoint Research Associate Director Tarun Pathak, in terms of features, OnePlus will again live up to its expectations of an Android flagship.

"With 5G and latest features, it is again likely to be among the top Android flagships. For sales perspective, its launch quarter will surely be impacted for example in India where around one-third of its annual sales happen during launch in Q2 quarter," he added.

To offset this, OnePlus will need to aggressively scale up its efforts in the third and fourth quarters, he said.

"...we think demand will be shifted in India due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. Given its brand image and good exposure to online, it look for different ways to push sales especially related to upgrades as it has a loyal userbase.

"This will also be the first time when OnePlus new launch sales will overlap with the launch quarters of Samsung Note and Apple iPhone refresh too..So we expect a strong competitiom in India in the premium market in Q3 and Q4," he said.