Chinese smartphone maker startup OnePlus will start manufacturing smartphones in India, by the end of this year. In the press statement company announced on Monday, “OnePlus has partnered with contract manufacturer Foxconn, and is the recent company to join the Indian government’s ambitious ‘Make in India’ initiative.”
“Today is a big day for us. Producing smartphones in India is one of the most important decisions that we have made so far at OnePlus, and we are thankful to the Government of Andhra Pradesh and Foxconn for helping us make this happen. India being one of our biggest markets worldwide, we are committed to a long term sustainable growth path. This move will strengthen our presence and help us step up momentum in India,” Pete Lau said.
The company will start locally manufacturing its upcoming devices before the end of this year at the 30,000 sq. ft. facility at Foxconn’s Rising Stars factory within Sri City Integrated Business City in Andhra Pradesh. The facility has a cumulative peak capacity of producing up to 500,000 units per month.
According to various estimates, the mobile phone market in India is estimated to be around 100 million units a year. The segment OnePlus addresses is said to be around six per cent of the overall market or six mn units.
“As a company, we have always strived to improve our operations by making us more efficient, so that we can pass on the savings to the consumers. For example, we save our margins because we don’t sell offline. We also save on marketing because we don’t do traditional way of marketing,” Lau said.