OnePlus will stick to its new 'Pro' strategy despite region-exclusive confusion

In an interview with The Times of India, OnePlus CEO Pete Lau gave some confirmation on the company’s smartphone release strategy going forward. In a nutshell, Lau confirmed that the OnePlus “Pro” strategy of releasing two variants of the same device will continue for the foreseeable future.

“I think moving forward we are going to — at least for now — stick with [sic] current strategy by introducing two products,” Lau said. “Wherein one will be affordable and the other one be priced higher.”

This means that there will very likely be both a OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro launched in the Spring of 2020. We’ve already seen leaked renders of both devices, although their leaking this early casts some doubt to their authenticity.

Lau goes on to explain a bit about why the company decided to switch up from its former strategy of releasing one main device in the Spring and then an iterative upgrade of that device in the Fall. He makes it clear that the Indian market — where OnePlus is the premium smartphone king — was a major factor in this decision.

“When we decided to use the dual product strategy we think about the product itself,” Lau said. “We want to provide the best user experience. Take OnePlus 7 Pro for example, for regular customers in Indian market that’s a very high price but on the other hand, we really want to give our customers the best user experience. That’s why we introduced the OnePlus 7 as a more approachable product for more users.”

Related: This could be the OnePlus 8 Pro

While the OnePlus “Pro” strategy isn’t bad in theory, it has still created a lot of confusion for the average smartphone buyer. In the United Kingdom, for example, you can buy every OnePlus phone launched in 2019. In the United States, though, you can only buy the OnePlus 7 Pro and its 5G variant, the OnePlus 7T, and the 5G McLaren Edition of the OnePlus 7T Pro. Two of those devices are exclusive to individual carriers.

It’s definitely good to see that OnePlus is expanding its product line and giving customers more choices. However, the product line will be very confusing if multiple phones with similar names are launched only in specific countries. We’ll need to wait and see what 2020 brings for the company.

What do you think of the OnePlus “Pro” strategy? Let us know in the comments.