OnePlus, a Chinese phone brand owned by Oppo, revealed its new Ace 2V at a product launch on Tuesday, highlighting its high performance stats and low price tag as it looks to accrue market share in a segment long dominated by Xiaomi.
Why it matters: The Ace 2V provides a new threat to Xiaomi’s Redmi series when it comes to price sensitive consumers, a field where the latter has traditionally excelled. The basic Redmi K60 model is priced at RMB 2,999; the standard Ace 2V undercuts it by RMB 700.
- Lu Weibing, Xiaomi’s president, announced a price cut for the Redmi K60 series on his Weibo account on Feb. 7, the same day that the OnePlus Ace 2V was revealed. A week later, president of OnePlus China Li Jie posted on his Weibo account, “Don’t give in to mediocrity, this is a victory for effort,” and “We won’t sacrifice specs and user experience to profit” (our translations).
Details: The Ace 2V phone began pre-sales on Mar. 7, though is currently only available in China. According to OnePlus, it will be renamed OnePlus Nord 3 in overseas markets, but its global release date is as yet unknown.
- OnePlus has priced its three Ace 2V models (12GB RAM + 256GB, 16GB RAM + 256GB and 16GB RAM + 512GB) at RMB 2,299, RMB 2,499 and RMB 2,799 respectively.
- The OnePlus Ace 2V offers a Dimensity 9000 chip, 12/16 GB of RAM and 256/512 GB of UFS 3.1 storage. At a press conference demonstration, the OnePlus Ace 2V achieved a score of 1.05 million on the AnTuTu software benchmarking system, the highest of any Dimensity 9000 phone to date. The company says that such specs will ensure a smooth gaming experience.
- The phone features support for 5G, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC, and several navigation systems. It includes an infrared port and 80W fast charging port, with a battery capacity of 5,000 mAh. It also offers a 6.74-inch OLED display with 2,772 x 1,240 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate and comes with a three camera system featuring a 64 megapixel main camera, 8 megapixel ultra-wide angle lens, and 2 megapixel macro lens.
Context: In December last year, major Chinese phone maker Oppo announced that it would be investing RMB 10 billion ($1.43 billion) over three years as part of a “dual primary” strategy aimed at enhancing and clarifying OnePlus’ status. The two firms merged in 2021.
- According to data from technology market research firm Counterpoint, Oppo was the third highest selling smartphone brand in China in the fourth quarter of 2022, taking 16% of the market and ranking behind Apple and Vivo. Oppo’s sales figures include those for OnePlus. Xiaomi’s market share was 12% for the same period.
- In December, it was reported that Xiaomi was undertaking large-scale layoffs after a persistent decline in its phone sales over the course of 2022.