Does the removal — temporary or permanent — of the Pro variant from its flagship mean that OnePlus is stepping back from its premium phone plans to an extent? We take a closer look.
OnePlus started out as the Flagship Killer, a brand that delivered near flagship specs at surprisingly affordable prices – the first OnePlus was priced at 21,999. While its price increased steadily in the years that followed, OnePlus remained, for many, a device with a flagship heart and a less-than-premium price.
And then in 2019, the Never Settling brand decided to venture forth bravely into the premium zone. That was the year in which it released the OnePlus 7 Pro, which started at Rs 48,999, almost 40 percent higher than the OnePlus 6 (Rs 34,999). While still more affordable than flagships from Apple and Samsung, this was still a very high price tag by OnePlus standards and resulted in some very sharp reactions from its loyalists, who felt the move took OnePlus away from its flagship-killing roots. Many analysts felt that the brand’s move was in keeping with the trend toward higher-priced premium devices spurred by the success of the iPhone X.
Table of ContentsThe Pro era starts…and ends
For the next couple of years, OnePlus continued to follow this premium Pro path. In 2020, it launched the OnePlus 8 Pro at Rs 54,999, the OnePlus 9 Pro at Rs 65,999 in 2021, and the OnePlus 10 Pro at Rs 66,999 in 2022. The OnePlus 7 Pro even got a slightly more expensive T variant, although its successors did not. OnePlus also kept releasing lower-priced non-Pro number phones, but it was the Pro that was considered the star of the OnePlus flagship universe. It was also seen as the phone most likely to challenge the Apple and Samsung hegemony in the super-premium (above Rs 50,000) price segment.
And then in 2023, the Pro went missing. For the first since 2019, OnePlus released a flagship without a Pro variant. Even more interestingly, the OnePlus 11 started at a much lower price than the OnePlus 10 Pro – Rs 56,999 as compared to Rs 66,999.
