OnePlus was the only brand to grow year-on-year in US
OnePlus 8T
Recognition: Ryan-Thomas Shaw / Android Authority
- According to a research firm, OnePlus was the only major brand that saw sales grow in 2020.
- In 2020 a sales rate of over 160% was achieved compared to 2019.
2020 was a tough year for everyone thanks to the pandemic, and the US smartphone market was particularly hard hit as a result. However, it turns out that one cellular brand managed to buck the trend and actually grew year-over-year in 2020.
According to Counterpoint Research, OnePlus was the only major brand to see 163% year-over-year growth from 2019. Both Apple and Samsung posted year-over-year decreases of 3% and 5% each. Check out the table below courtesy of the tracking company.
Counterpoint noted that carrier channels were a particularly significant growth area for OnePlus, citing relationships with T-Mobile (which started in 2018), Sprint (from 2019), and Verizon (which offered OnePlus 8 UW in 2020).
“T-Mobile is still the biggest source of revenue for OnePlus. The OEM is doubling with new inexpensive devices that are now even available in prepaid channels,” said the tracking company. OnePlus was also able to win customers who were “disenfranchised” with current premium devices and wanted cheaper high-end devices.
It’s worth noting that OnePlus started on a very small basis as it’s not a top 4 player in the US and first teamed up with a carrier in 2018 (with the T-Mobile OnePlus 6T). It is therefore not entirely surprising to see this growth, as Realme and Xiaomi also showed explosive initial growth in the first few years after entering Europe.
Still, the new strategy of offering a growing portfolio of phones at various prices seems to be working for OnePlus in the US so far. But will the company be able to continue this growth in 2021?
