Will The Flagship Killer Get Killed This Year?
Will The Flagship Killer Get Killed This Year?
“The Flagship Killer” – This is how any new phone from One Plus’s factory is described. There is often a good reason behind it too; their phones have the latest processors, best in class RAM, high-quality cameras, amazing build quality and the latest Android firmware – all for a price that is half of any latest flagship out there. The purchase of the ‘Flagship Killer’, then, seems like a no-brainer? Right?
Well, unfortunately, it seems like that might not be the case for the One Plus 6. For the reasoning behind this, we will have to go back to the roots of the company.
One Plus rose to fame when smartphones were a luxury — often sold at astronomically high prices, with little to no competition available for companies like Apple, Samsung, and HTC. The budget smartphones, which were sold at a price range accessible to the common man, were downright terrible. These so-called ‘budget smartphones’ lagged like crazy, had 2-year-old specs, and the consumers were absolutely frustrated. This is when One Plus entered with its first ‘Flagship Killer’ – the One Plus One. It shook the landscape of budget smartphones – almost creating a monopoly with its unmatched specs.
Now, four years later, the smartphone landscape is drastically different. Granted, the big players are still the big players, but competition has increased at an exponential pace due to the entrance of small Chinese companies like Oppo, newly born companies like Essential and the increased ferocity of the big guns. To win in this landscape means to retain the loyalty of your fans, and to give customers what they want (Exception: If you’re building something drastically different, don’t ask customers what they want).
The rumored One Plus 6 doesn’t get anything right. It includes the notch – for no apparent reason than to jump in on the peculiar trend – which is the stupidest thing I’ve seen Android smartphone manufacturers do in years. It will be expensive – almost as expensive as some of the flagship smartphones – making it lose more than half of its customer base. It will also be an iterative update with no differentiating factor from its counterparts.
The currently overhyped ‘ Flagship Killer’ may get killed this year. What do you think? Vote down below.
Very nicely written article!