OnePlus Two, the second phone from the ‘flagship killer’ brand, is all set to be unveiled in India on July 28 — the same day as the rumored unveiling of the Moto G3 — in Delhi, and the price is expected to be around Rs 29,000, according to industry sources.
“At most, it could go up to Rs 29,999,” said a Delhi-based source.
The problem, he went on, would not be price as much as availability, as the Chinese firm is unlikely to be able to meet even a fraction of the demand in India for the first six weeks or so.
By end-August or early September, the Moto X3 — with very similar specifications to the OnePlus 2, will be also be launched in India and demand for the Chinese phone will slacken and availability will increase.
At Rs 29,000, the OnePlus Two will undoubtedly be the cheapest quad-HD phone in India by far. Currently, the cheapest quad-HD phone in India is the HTC One E9+, which costs Rs 34,222 on Infibeam – the lowest price right now.
And that is a massive discount, especially given that the OnePlus Two is substantially superior to the HTC One E9+ in terms of both appeal, image and hard specifications.
The OnePlus One had an excellent run in India, and is one of those rare phones that did not see massive price cuts in the second half of its life. For example, the Xiaomi Mi4, which was supposed to take on the ‘One’, had to undergo massive price cuts (25%) in India, and even then could not match up to ‘One’ sales.
Part of the reason is that OnePlus does ‘average’ pricing. In other words, instead of charging very high initially and then reducing prices as days go by, the Chinese firm calculates a kind of ‘average’ price that may not give it any profit (or even cause a loss) initially, but, over the life of the product, will afford it decent profits.
As a result, OnePlus models are tough to beat immediately after launch.
In addition, the firm also caters to the discerning and tech-oriented buyer, and spends next to nothing on advertisements and promotions.
This saves it money on promotions, and the buyer only pays for the hardware and not the ads. An online distribution model, where distribution and dealer costs come to only around 2% of the phone’s cost, also helps keep the prices down.
This strategy can also be seen in the launch of the OnePlus 2.
In a market where even the biggest brands offer only 3 GB of RAM, the model will come with 4 GB, and a Snapdragon 810 processor. Of course, the SD 810 has had problems with overheating, but we’re guessing that something has been done (throttling?) about the issue by the vendor by now.
Other specifications also leave little to be desired.
In fact, that has been the beauty of OnePlus models: Since they cater primarily to geeks, they give you the top-end specs without trying to cut corners.
The new phone has a display of 5.5 inches with quad-HD (8 MP) resolution. Internal memory will start at 32 GB.
There will be no card slot – partly to keep costs under control and partly for aesthetic reasons. SD card slots are something that companies cannot shrink using their in-house design capabilities and form a sticking point for those trying to design something minimalist and sleek.
In terms of imaging, the OnePlus 2 has a 16 MP primary camera that also supports 4K video recording at 30 frames per second. It is supplemented by a standard 5 MP front shooter.
One of the key attractions of the model is looks, at least going by the leaked images of the phone.
While every OEM has tried to reduce bezels — those black patches of plastic that ‘adorn’ the space around the display — only this Chinese vendors seems to have managed to reduce the dimensions substantially enough (see rumored picture above). This not only reduces the overall size of the phone, but also gives it a superior aesthetic feel.
Almost all the other features in the device are what you’d expect from a high-end phone these days.
However, before you get all excited, you must keep in mind is that the Moto X3 will soon be available at a price of around Rs 33,000.
There will be two key differences between the Moto X 3rd Generation and the OnePlus 2 – both related to the display.
The Moto X 3rd Gen is almost certain to come with the same display found the Moto Turbo (price Rs 42,000) — a 5.2-inch AMOLED unit with 8 million pixel (quad-HD) resolution, while the OnePlus model comes with a 5.5-inch LCD display.
Of course, there is much to be said about the advantages of an AMOLED display over an LCD panel, while there is also something to be said about why an LCD panel can be a better choice for some people.
But suffice it to say that in AMOLED displays, each dot generates its own light, while in LCD, each dot is illuminated by a backlight.
As a result, an AMOLED display will emit no light when showing the color black, but an LCD display will still emit some light even when showing the color black. This results in AMOLED displays looking ‘better’ in terms of contrast and vibrancy of colors. That said, they also tend to look oversaturated and artificial, though some prefer that to the usual thing.
The cheapest phone with a quad-HD AMOLED display in India at present is the Moto Turbo mentioned above and the Samsung Galaxy S6, which also costs Rs 42,000. A 2015 version of the Moto Droid Turbo is also in the works, but that is likely to be at least 3-4 months away from an India launch.
So, if you’re a big fan of such displays, you can consider waiting for the launch of the X3. There is no firm date on when that will happen, and chances are that the model will take a month or more to come to India after the ‘2’ hits Amazon.in. More information about Moto X3 launch will be available on July 28, when Moto G3 will be announced in India.
“At most, it could go up to Rs 29,999,” said a Delhi-based source.
The problem, he went on, would not be price as much as availability, as the Chinese firm is unlikely to be able to meet even a fraction of the demand in India for the first six weeks or so.
By end-August or early September, the Moto X3 — with very similar specifications to the OnePlus 2, will be also be launched in India and demand for the Chinese phone will slacken and availability will increase.
At Rs 29,000, the OnePlus Two will undoubtedly be the cheapest quad-HD phone in India by far. Currently, the cheapest quad-HD phone in India is the HTC One E9+, which costs Rs 34,222 on Infibeam – the lowest price right now.
And that is a massive discount, especially given that the OnePlus Two is substantially superior to the HTC One E9+ in terms of both appeal, image and hard specifications.
The OnePlus One had an excellent run in India, and is one of those rare phones that did not see massive price cuts in the second half of its life. For example, the Xiaomi Mi4, which was supposed to take on the ‘One’, had to undergo massive price cuts (25%) in India, and even then could not match up to ‘One’ sales.
Part of the reason is that OnePlus does ‘average’ pricing. In other words, instead of charging very high initially and then reducing prices as days go by, the Chinese firm calculates a kind of ‘average’ price that may not give it any profit (or even cause a loss) initially, but, over the life of the product, will afford it decent profits.
As a result, OnePlus models are tough to beat immediately after launch.
In addition, the firm also caters to the discerning and tech-oriented buyer, and spends next to nothing on advertisements and promotions.
This saves it money on promotions, and the buyer only pays for the hardware and not the ads. An online distribution model, where distribution and dealer costs come to only around 2% of the phone’s cost, also helps keep the prices down.
This strategy can also be seen in the launch of the OnePlus 2.
In a market where even the biggest brands offer only 3 GB of RAM, the model will come with 4 GB, and a Snapdragon 810 processor. Of course, the SD 810 has had problems with overheating, but we’re guessing that something has been done (throttling?) about the issue by the vendor by now.
Other specifications also leave little to be desired.
In fact, that has been the beauty of OnePlus models: Since they cater primarily to geeks, they give you the top-end specs without trying to cut corners.
The new phone has a display of 5.5 inches with quad-HD (8 MP) resolution. Internal memory will start at 32 GB.
There will be no card slot – partly to keep costs under control and partly for aesthetic reasons. SD card slots are something that companies cannot shrink using their in-house design capabilities and form a sticking point for those trying to design something minimalist and sleek.
In terms of imaging, the OnePlus 2 has a 16 MP primary camera that also supports 4K video recording at 30 frames per second. It is supplemented by a standard 5 MP front shooter.
One of the key attractions of the model is looks, at least going by the leaked images of the phone.
While every OEM has tried to reduce bezels — those black patches of plastic that ‘adorn’ the space around the display — only this Chinese vendors seems to have managed to reduce the dimensions substantially enough (see rumored picture above). This not only reduces the overall size of the phone, but also gives it a superior aesthetic feel.
Almost all the other features in the device are what you’d expect from a high-end phone these days.
However, before you get all excited, you must keep in mind is that the Moto X3 will soon be available at a price of around Rs 33,000.
There will be two key differences between the Moto X 3rd Generation and the OnePlus 2 – both related to the display.
The Moto X 3rd Gen is almost certain to come with the same display found the Moto Turbo (price Rs 42,000) — a 5.2-inch AMOLED unit with 8 million pixel (quad-HD) resolution, while the OnePlus model comes with a 5.5-inch LCD display.
Of course, there is much to be said about the advantages of an AMOLED display over an LCD panel, while there is also something to be said about why an LCD panel can be a better choice for some people.
But suffice it to say that in AMOLED displays, each dot generates its own light, while in LCD, each dot is illuminated by a backlight.
As a result, an AMOLED display will emit no light when showing the color black, but an LCD display will still emit some light even when showing the color black. This results in AMOLED displays looking ‘better’ in terms of contrast and vibrancy of colors. That said, they also tend to look oversaturated and artificial, though some prefer that to the usual thing.
The cheapest phone with a quad-HD AMOLED display in India at present is the Moto Turbo mentioned above and the Samsung Galaxy S6, which also costs Rs 42,000. A 2015 version of the Moto Droid Turbo is also in the works, but that is likely to be at least 3-4 months away from an India launch.
So, if you’re a big fan of such displays, you can consider waiting for the launch of the X3. There is no firm date on when that will happen, and chances are that the model will take a month or more to come to India after the ‘2’ hits Amazon.in. More information about Moto X3 launch will be available on July 28, when Moto G3 will be announced in India.
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