By Nishant Arora
New Delhi, Jul 23 (IANS): Buoyed by the strong buzz around its newly-launched 'make in India' Nord 5G, leading smartphone brand OnePlus said on Friday that by the end of 2023, the accumulated sales volume of the Nord 5G product line will reach 25 million units.
Navnit Nakra, Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer and Head of India Sales, OnePlus India, told IANS that the company is committed to the Indian market and over the last two years, it has worked to strengthen manufacturing capabilities in the country.
"Not only are our flagship devices manufactured in India, but also our mid-premium smartphones -- Nord product line (OnePlus Nord CE 5G and OnePlus Nord 2 5G) and OnePlus TVs are being manufactured in India for the domestic market," Nakra said.
"India is a key market for OnePlus and we are consistently working towards strengthening our presence in this region, creating products that cater to the needs of our Indian consumers," he added.
The first Nord smartphone was launched in July 2020, which became a big part of OnePlus's global diversification strategy of more products across price points.
In Q1 2021, OnePlus grew more than 300 per cent driven by the OnePlus Nord, which was the best-selling 5G smartphone during the quarter, along with the OnePlus 8T, according to Counterpoint Research.
"OnePlus Nord 2 5G's positioning is on making the OnePlus experience more accessible and comes equipped with uncompromised smartphone performance powered by artificial intelligence (AI), a smarter camera system and essentials of a smartphone that make it comparable to flagships," Nakra emphasised.
The 6GB+128GB, 8GB+128GB and 12GB+256GB Nord 5G variants are priced at Rs 27,999, Rs 29,999 and Rs 34,999, respectively.
The India R&D team has significantly contributed towards the development of the OnePlus Nord CE 5G and the new OnePlus Nord 2 5G devices.
For the OnePlus Nord 2 5G, the India R&D team took complete ownership of the network and field-testing efforts for local operators as well as global operators from EU, Southeast Asia, Middle East regions covering almost 100 operators.
"Several quality assurance tests were driven by the team to ensure overall superior quality of the devices, including numerous tests on Oxygen OS functionality. Over 700 hours were dedicated to conduct these quality tests to ensure the stability and performance of the OnePlus Nord 2," Nakra told IANS.
The India R&D team also immensely contributed towards OxygenOS global apps such as Screen Recorder feature, ShotonOnePlus app, as well as Setup Wizard functions for both the OnePlus Nord 2 5G as well as the OnePlus Nord CE 5G.
"We are constantly exploring opportunities to further fuel our growth in India. We are confident that the OnePlus Nord 2 5G will be a worthy successor to the original OnePlus Nord," Nakra added.