Chinese manufacturer, OnePlus, has been doing quite well in the smartphone market. Especially last year, OP7Pro’s “90Hz + UFS3.0” strategy achieved great success. This year, the OnePlus 8 series hopes to continue the legacy of the OP7 Pro. OnePlus CEO, Liu Zuohu, said that the company is developing pretty fast. However, OnePlus focus has been in the high-end flagship market.
Recently, industry sources claim that OnePlus will release ODM orders in 2020, including 4G and 5G projects. Presently, it already has suppliers for 4G projects. However, the company is still evaluating participants for 5G projects. With the recent development, the OnePlus smartphone market is undergoing major changes. The company will no longer focus on the high-end flagship market. It will now gradually carve a niche for itself in the low-end market.
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OnePlus will release low-end devices
The Chinese manufacturer is making this major change in its marketing strategy because it believes that it can do better in the smartphone market. In the third quarter of 2019, OnePlus ranks fourth behind only Apple, Samsung, and Huawei.
After the release of ODM by OnePlus, of course, there will be more brutal competition from the likes of Huawei and Xiaomi. In 2019, the two largest customers of ODM manufacturers are undoubtedly Huawei and Xiaomi.
ODM actually means “Original Design Manufacturing”. Some consider ODM as “private labeling”. Here, a vendor goes into the catalog of a factory and selects an already-existing product design. It makes a few tweaks and sells it under its own brand name. The adjustments are usually minor stuff like packaging or product bundles, colors, and branding. It could also make some adjustments to components or functionality.
We should know that ODM is quite different from OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer). With OEMs, the suppliers manufacture products based on a client’s product design and specifications. All the R&D, as well as market research, is done by the client.
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