OnePlus's emphasis on user-centric products and services might allow it to satisfy unmet needs for high-performance gaming handsets
Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus has made its ambitions clear: A handset producer that doesn't want to build a topnotch model meant for playing games cannot emerge from China's dog-eats-dog smartphone war on top.
Louis Li Jie, president of OnePlus China, said in an internal letter dated February 7 that the emerging smart gadget company, which has ties with major phone maker Oppo and has quite a following among geek communities including in India and Silicon Valley, seeks to create a flagship phone that will offer "the best user experience in playing games."
"China has close to 700 million mobile game users, making games a high-frequency application scenario," said Li. "But most users will not buy a phone just for the sake of playing games."
He explained that users are in greater need of a flagship phone that delivers a good gaming experience while meeting their various needs across a full spectrum of day-to-day applications.
OnePlus's choice of moving into this realm appears to befits changes in one of the world's fastest-growing industries.
According to a report jointly released by GPC and China Game Industry Institute in December 2021, indigenously developed user games in 2021 generated sales of USD 18.013 billion in overseas markets, increasing by USD 2.563 billion yuan, up 16.59% year on year.
Revenue from the United States represented 32.58% of the total, ranking first for two years in a row, while Japan and South Korea accounted for 18.54% and 7.19% of the total sales.
Lured by the huge market potential, several Chinese smartphone players already have taken the plunge to develop higher-performance phones that game players crave.
Li of OnePlus said China's handset market will continue to experience headwinds and after users change phones several times, their demands for products are getting higher and higher.
"Users are increasingly sensitive to experience and details," said he. "However, under some high-frequency scenarios, such as gaming experience and smooth functionality, the industry still has areas where a lot leaves to be desired."
But this is exactly where OnePlus's opportunities and advantages lie, he added.
Early this year, OnePlus launched its new model 10 Pro, which could already be seen as a move toward its stated aspirations to improve users' gaming satisfaction.
According to product specifications, 10 Pro is equipped with a customized X-axis vibration motor, HyperBoost full-link game stabilization technology and a three-dimensional space cooling system. All of these features are said to offer a better user experience, said the company.
OnePlus confirmed at the launch of 10 Pro on Jan 10 that it would come with the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset and run on the company's OxygenOS 12 platform, which, based on Android 12, is an amalgam with its partner Oppo's ColorOS.
OnePlus has yet to make clear when exactly 10 Pro will hit foreign markets, although the company said it would make its debut globally later in 2022.