Who is the next OnePlus - Android

With the OnePlus 8 going premium, is there another brand that could fill OnePlus' shoes in the affordable phone space?

In just seven years, OnePlus has fully transitioned from a niche Oppo offshoot with an oblique sales strategy and occasionally questionable marketing into a legitimate top-tier player in the global smartphone arena.

OnePlus is now a household name among even casual tech fans and its affordable flagships have resonated with buyers in the most lucrative yet wildly differing markets, including the US, China, and India.

However, OnePlus in 2020 is a completely different beast from the OnePlus of two years or even 12 months ago. The OnePlus 8 Pro fully realized a trend that started with the OnePlus 7 Pro — a premium flagship from the Shenzhen firm that refused to compromise in any department, be it features, specs, or, most crucially, price.

Read more: How the price of OnePlus phones changed over the years

Starting at $899, the OnePlus 8 Pro is still a reasonable proposition relative to its $1,000+ rivals, but a far cry from the $549 OnePlus 6T that launched less than 18 months ago. Even the $150 jump to the vanilla OnePlus 8 is a big leap for those looking for a bargain.

With OnePlus switching strategy, is there another brand that could take its place as the affordable flagship maker and the “cool” cult OEM of choice?

Could there be a new OnePlus? Let’s take a look at some of the possible candidates.

Xiaomi

At a glance, Xiaomi appears to be the most obvious OnePlus replacement. Its core Mi series has emerged as a bonafide flagship series that deftly balances price, design, and specs.

Well, that was true until the Xiaomi Mi 10 series at least. The Mi 8 and Mi 9 may have been outright bargains based on the hardware on offer, but the Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro tipped the balance towards the premium sector and have actually outpriced the OnePlus 8 series in most regions.

Related: Xiaomi is climbing the price ladder with the Mi 10 in India — here’s why

Despite continuing to make noise about a potential push into the US market, Xiaomi ultimately appears content to build on its staggering success in emergent markets and Europe as it looks to surpass a Huawei that is currently licking its wounds, and eventually even take a shot at Apple and Samsung. OnePlus is small fry by comparison.

Meanwhile, Xiaomi’s broad, hugely popular ecosystem of fitness, smart home, and general lifestyle products (not to mention all the really weird stuff) stretches well beyond OnePlus’ tentative pushes into other categories.

While its smartphones are comparable to OnePlus, Xiaomi is hunting for much bigger bounties.

Poco

Speaking of Xiaomi, what about its sub-brands? Both Redmi and Poco have been vying for the attention of savvy smartphone buyers since splintering off from Xiaomi, but Poco would appear to be the more likely OnePlus rival of the two.

Redmi’s China and India-first focus, omission of top-tier silicon, and budget branding means it doesn’t have that same aura as OnePlus. The retooled Poco, however, is still in flux and could put up a challenge.

Poco 2.0 is still finding its feet, but could put up a challenge.

The Poco F2 Pro (while technically a Redmi phone), sees Poco 2.0 stray outside of China and India for the first time since its rebirth and it ticks some boxes that lapsed OnePlus buyers may find attractive, mostly in the specs and price departments. It also misses some crucial ones, however — MIUI and those pesky ads will be an understandable deal-breaker for many. Meanwhile, the recent price snafu suggests Poco is more interested in bolstering its bottom line out of the gates than slowly fostering a dedicated user-base built on goodwill.

Poco is still finding its feet though and it’ll be fascinating to see what a true post-Xiaomi/Redmi Poco phone looks like when the inevitable Poco F3 Pro arrives.

Realme

The brand that won’t stop releasing new phones seemingly every month, Realme has swiftly established itself as the hottest new export coming out of China. When you’re releasing phones as great as the Realme X2 Pro and Realme X50 Pro, it’s hard to argue that its rapid growth isn’t wholly earned.

If you ignore Realme’s confusing armada of budget phones and only focus on the X series, the hallmarks of early OnePlus start to shine through; incredible price-performance ratios, cutting-edge features that match and sometimes surpass phones twice the price, simple yet appealing designs, and a custom UI that’s slowly beginning to shrug off its bloat-ridden origins as a ColorOS spin-off.

Does BBK see Realme as a replacement for OnePlus as its favorite son graduates to the big leagues? Possibly, but you only need to look at its ultra-cheap smartwatches and fitness bands to see that Realme is already trying to fill the gap Xiaomi has left behind as it embarks on its own journey up the price ladder.

LG