2020 has essentially just begun, but we can already say that it turned out to be strange for the tech industry. Mass event cancellations, food delays, doubts about the longevity of the pandemic, and more. It would seem that against the background of all this, it would be very difficult to surprise the public with something. However, there is something else that can leave an imprint in history without exaggeration. It was in this year that something happened that many could not even imagine just three or four years ago. What I'm talking about is that companies Apple and OnePlus seem to have abandoned their usual strategies and somehow switched roles at the same time.
This smartphone has every chance to turn the market around.
How much is the new one iPhone?
Previously, the answer to this question assumed a fairly impressive amount for which you could buy 3-5 quite good smartphones for Android. It now only costs $ 399. While the new OnePlus 8 Pro is already asking for $ 899. Either I did poorly at school, or the difference is more than two times.
But what's the matter? Is everything okay with this worlds in which everything turned upside down so quickly? The answer is “yes and no”.
It seems to me that the manufacturers of Android – smartphones underestimated the first generation iPhone SE, which came out several years ago. Then the top iPhone had not yet risen to a thousand dollars and the price iPhone SE looked like only an insignificant concession against their background. Everyone wanted iPhone for $ 200 to be considered cheap, now they are happy with the price of $ 400.
So, then Apple went for an experiment. The new iPhone in the old building, which sold very well for several more years, showed the company that people do not want to increase prices, especially with the coming global fall in demand. That is why, after one and a half or two years, many wanted to buy a new one iPhone, but for little money. The company left a loophole for itself and fueled the market with rumors of a new generation iPhone SE.
It's not just a new iPhone in the old building. This is a kick for those who collect the cream on Android – smartphones.
The rise in prices for flagships is inevitable, since reaching new technological heights is more and more difficult and expensive every year. Accordingly, such growth is not only a whim of companies (although there really is such a thing), but also a real need for investments. Simply put, for the companies themselves, new flagship smartphones do cost more.
Against this background, while the companies were trying to catch up with Apple and explain to the public that their smartphones are also good and technologically advanced, the Cupertinians took and came from the rear, releasing a smartphone with an old, but still good, camera and display, but with new processor and new features. Roughly speaking, the new iPhone plus or minus half consists of spare parts iPhone 8, which came out two and a half years ago. Previously, this was not possible, but it is precisely because of the very compaction of technologies that now this period is not so long. Only the processor is aging, but it was the company that replaced it in the first place.
The wake-up call should have been that the top-selling smartphones in the world lately are iPhone 11 and iPhone XR, which cost $ 600-700. But no, OnePlus is launching a device with a price tag of under a thousand dollars. At the same time, the basic version of OnePlus for $ 700 costs the same as iPhone 11, but does not have protection against water and wireless charging, and the chip Apple A13 performs better in many tests. than Snapdragon 865. Even for the same amount iPhone, it moves more. So who is now the “flagship killer” and “top for their money”?
Competitors Apple
Only time and sales volume will tell who has chosen the right strategy, but at this point Apple clearly deserves more praise. We should regret OnePlus a little for the fact that in every review, after a portion of praise, they are smeared with a couple of spoons of sewage for their pricing. I also did so and our authors agree with this.
Sometimes it seems that despite its slogan, the company has given up.
But here we need to make a small remark and add that the OnePlus 8 Pro is just as cool as the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus, but costs $ 300 less. These guys generally suffered. Especially with the Galaxy S20 Ultra, which costs $ 1,400 but doesn't seem to work.
And then there's the Huawei P40 Pro, too, with a $ 1,000 price tag, but without Google services. For all my tender feelings for this brand, this state of affairs is not very clear to me at all, but the situation there can somehow be explained by the fact that the international market for the company is something from the category “let it be for now”. They now earn their main money in China, where Google does not work anyway, and the new product from Huawei will be able to compete with other manufacturers, including local OnePlus and Xiaomi.
All this suggests that the behavior Apple, which partly resembles the behavior of OnePlus itself a few years ago, is now the most justified. And the release of the second generation iPhone SE and the presence in the lineup iPhone 11 are as timely as possible. We must not forget that it is much easier for a buyer to switch from expensive to cheap, especially in difficult times, and if it is almost as good as it is, they will move without hesitation.
The only one that the OnePlus 8 Pro can really push now at the expense of its price is the iPhone 11 Pro Max, which starts at $ 1,100, and with a comparable memory size – $ 1,249. But hardly anyone who wants to buy “Max” and has such an amount will look at OnePlus, unless he wants to have 5G, which does not work everywhere yet, and a 120 Hz screen, the benefits of which are realized in application units. Samsung remains, but apparently the 20th generation is selling poorly and there is little competition.
Analogs iPhone SE 2 on Adnroid
We have already given examples of models Android of smartphones that can compete with iPhone SE 2, but there really isn't much to choose from. Imagine, for a second, that some of the device manufacturers on Android released a iPhone SE style phone. Old button design, thick bezels, no OLED screen, one camera module … all for $ 400. Google can afford it at a stretch, but no one else.
There's almost no competition in the $ 400 price tag range. OnePlus got out of it, Honor fell off due to problems with Google, Xiaomi are too specific (and their strong point is in a slightly different range), and OPPO's new items, albeit not bad ones, already appreciates more. In the end, there is only the Google Pixel 3a and the upcoming Google Pixel 4a.
Let Apple and released an “old smartphone” for those who just stopped receiving updates, but Google has nothing but services and a cool camera. iPhone SE 2 brings augmented reality, Wi-Fi 6 support, top-end LTE, water resistance, wireless charging and updates for years to come. Here is the real flagship killer. If Apple had made a new design, then I would have simply cut down the branch on which iPhone 11 Pro sits with a chainsaw. Then they made the same killer, but wisely so as not to harm the rest of the business.
Let there be only one camera, but what kind
Now that Apple is gaining traction, manufacturers such as Motorola, who have made budget phones their bread and butter, may be in serious trouble. Perhaps competition from iPhone SE will trigger new ideas and more profitable phones from manufacturers Android. On the other hand, I know literally isolated examples of people who have tried all the good things Apple, but want to return to Android. These benefits include convenient updates, sync across devices, ease of use, performance, and the like.
Of course, Android also treats their children's ailments, but Apple does not stand still. For example, they pull up what they have always failed to do – the openness of the operating system. In iPhone you can now easily work with files and download data to it. You can't copy music without iTunes yet, but who needs it in the age of streaming services that cost less than a cup of coffee or a couple of beers a month?
Cheap OnePlus
OnePlus has been working at a loss for a long time, selling the real top for $ 500, and now it wants to make money, but it will not work like that. We must look for other options.
All this is good, but expensive. Let's get something cheaper.
Perhaps the company still hasn't given up on releasing the OnePlus Z model, which would be a sequel to the inexpensive OnePlus X from a few years ago. In this case, we could talk about competition with iPhone SE and Google Pixel 4a, but will it be? And it needs to be released faster, before people buy competitors' smartphones. The trouble is that by releasing a new product now, the company will spoil the sales of its expensive models, and after waiting, it will miss the market. Yes, the dilemma …
As the English footballer Gary Lineker once said: “Football is a game in which 22 guys roll the ball for 90 minutes, and the Germans always win”. So it is here. Even if Apple changed her strategy and now behaves like those who previously tried to catch up with her, she will still be the leader and make more money on smartphones than anyone else.