OnePlus, and its seeming determination to go ahead with life as usual, by launching OnePlus 8 Pro and OnePlus 8 smartphone later today. Along with smartphones, OnePlus Bullets Wireless Z headphones have also been teased to launch.
An online launch event will be held today at 8:30 pm IST today. The event will be live-streamed on the OnePlus official website and YouTube as well. But the launchraises some interesting questions.
For one, just how important is business as usual as compared to what is happening around us? And two, does OnePlus really believe that the launch will send a positive signal in the current climate of fear and worry?
Let’s look at the facts. Much has been written about the ‘opportunity’ for online launches and the like, with people stuck indoors. But these claims barely acknowledge the fact that while consumer attention and time available might have gone up manifold, so has consumer stress.
People are worried today about their health, jobs, and future, like never before in most people’s living memory. In that situation, what does OnePlus gain by launching a new series? Is it because, a key market, China, has limped back to normal, and wants to signal all is well?
Or is it because the firm wants to be seen as an outlier, sending a message to the world that life goes on?
We believe the firm might have miscalculated. Not only is interest currently at the lowest ebb when it comes to new launches and investing in a handset upgrade, but a regular launch is possibly counterproductive. Even delivery chains are broken, which means even the most diehard fans might have to wait quite a while before getting their hands on a model.
Assuming that production and other scheduling compulsions made this inevitable, the firm could have made a much bigger effort to make the launch about the support it is providing everywhere for Covid-19 efforts, rather than just the usual new features and announcements gig. Just imagine if the firm had set aside a batch of handsets for health workers, at a special price?
Oneplus 8 and OnePlus 8Pro
In case you are curious to know more about the smartphones that OnePlus is launching, OnePlus 8 Pro 8GB + 128GB variant price is rumoured to be set between EUR 919 and EUR 929 (roughly Rs 76,000-76,900) in Europe. The 12GB RAM + 256GB storage model could be priced between EUR 1,009 and EUR 1,019 (roughly Rs 83,500-84,400).
The OnePlus 8, on the other hand, is said to be priced between EUR 719 and EUR 729 (roughly Rs 59,500-60,400) for the 8GB RAM + 128GB storage option in Europe. The top-end 12GB RAM + 256GB storage variant of the OnePlus 8 is rumoured to be priced between EUR 819 and EUR 829 (roughly Rs 67,800-68,700).
The OnePlus 8 Pro will feature quad cameras at the back and a hole-punch display. It will have a 48-megapixel primary lens, a 48-megapixel secondary shooter, an 8-megapixel third lens and a 5-megapixel fourth lens. For the front, there will be a 16-megapixel selfie shooter.
The smartphone will come with a 6.78-inch QHD+ Super AMOLED Fluid display with a screen refresh rate of 120Hz. It will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 5G Processor along with Adreno 650 GPU.
OnePlus 8 is rumoured to feature a smaller 6.55-inch full-HD+ Super AMOLED Display with 90Hz refresh rate. The smartphone will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 5G Chipset along with Adreno 650 GPU. It will be backed by up to 12GB of LPDDR4X RAM along with 256GB of UFS 3.0 storage.The phone will be equipped with a triple-camera setup with a combination of 48-megapixel primary lens, a 16-megapixel secondary shooter and a 2-megapixel third sensor. For the front, it will come with 16-megapixel selfie shooter. It will have a 4,300mAh battery with 30W Wrap Charge 30T Fast charging support.