OnePlus Plans To Turn Its Indian R&D Facility Into Hub For Global Products: Report

After exporting its 5G smartphones to other countries from India, OnePlus is reportedly planning to turn its Indian research and development facility into a research firm for 5G, payment solution, and televisions. Apart from that, the company is planning to invest Rs. 1,000 crore in its R&D facility in Hyderabad. Currently, 400 people are working OnePlus in India and now it plans to add 1100 more by 2023.

"Currently out of the 400, around 300 are engineers in India. Going forward, we expect the ratio of engineers in total manpower will further go up. India will become a research hub for all products and undertaking a lot of research in both software and hardware," OnePlus India general manager Vikas Agarwal was quoted by Economic Times.

The report reveals that India is playing a very important role in OnePlus overall revenue. In fact, its one-third of revenue comes from the Indian market. Besides, the report claims that it is leading the premium segment and giving a tough competition to both Samsung and Apple.

In addition, the company is exporting its 5G smartphones to the US from India, and now it is likely to export its smart TVs to other parts of the world. However, the company will start to manufacture its smart TVs from this quarter in India. "As and when OnePlus launches television globally, it will be exported from the country," Agarwal said.

Moreover, the Chinese smartphone maker is operating 30 stores in 15 cities, and now the company will add 70 stores in 50 cities by the end of this year. At present, the stores are operated by their business partners, and it (OnePlus) has no plans to change the model.
"For smartphones, we are now targeting to be available in top general trade outlets. We have already partnered with Redington and reaching out to its top 100 stores,'' he added.