For smartphones manufacturers, competition with Apple must have the impression of bringing a knife to a shooting. Each. Bachelor. Quarter.
The best iPhones are not necessarily the best phones (read: they are not), but the Cupertino giant has undoubtedly managed to limit a large band of smartphones owners (perhaps indefinitely) thanks to its accent for decades on the construction of a waterproof product ecosystem. Heck, even Samsung, the largest competitor in Apple, saw his own country of origin being the victim of the fever of the iPhone, and Apple remains a force with which it is also necessary to count in China.
What are Apple’s rivals? According to Rudolf Xu, principal director of product marketing at OnePlus, there is only one thing: push greater compatibility with iOS.
“I think the main thing is to build a bridge with iOS,” Xu told Techradar during a recent visit to the headquarters of OnePlus in Guangdong, China. “This is why, for example, on oxygenos 15, we have a functionality called sharing with iPhone, and people love it – we receive very positive comments, because it makes the transfer of files [between Android and iOS] Much easier. This is something with which Android devices have always had trouble.
“Another thing is the sharing of live photos,” said Xu. “If you capture a live photo with the OnePlus 13, you can always see the live photo effect on an iPhone [if you transfer it]. This is because we use the last format to pack live photos.
“These are all the efforts we make to build a bridge between OnePlus products and the iOS ecosystem. We do not want to build an ecosystem that closes the door for other customers. We want to do [our ecosystem] As open as possible, so that we can attract more users. »»
In person, XU’s comment on “an ecosystem that closes the door of other customers” was not made directly in reference to Apple, but it rather highlights the node of the problem. Apple will not gladly open its operating system to compete with software developers (and why would it be?), So there are only many brands like OnePlus can improve compatibility between devices based on Android and iOS.
We want to do [our ecosystem] As open as possible, so that we can attract more users.
Rudolf XU, OnePlus
Indeed, Apple would never make the AirPods connection process to one of the best Android phones as transparent as the connection of AirPods to an iPhone, but OnePlus can at least ensure that its own smartphones are not completely incompatible with Apple handsets.
Of course, compatibility is not equivalent to homogeneity, and OnePlus has found other ways to differentiate the best OnePlus iPhones (not to mention other Android phones) in recent years.
We recently pointed out that consumers have tired of the modern smartphones design and, although in our interview, XU ” XU recognized that there was a logic behind the current similarity of industry, he said the commitment of his brand to stand out from the crowd.
“Regarding the design language, [there’s a reason] Why more and more products are alike, ”explained XU. [manufacturer] Put a camera in the upper left corner of the phone, and in fact, from the R&D point of view, this has the greatest efficiency for the stacking of the components. By “stacking of components”, I mean how the battery of a phone [is arranged in relation to] his chipset, etc.
“Most [manufacturers] like to put the battery [in the bottom half of the phone]The chipset [adjacent to the camera]and the camera [in the upper left corner]. In terms of R&D, it is the most effective and effective way to stack the components. So that may be why we see phones more and more designed in the same way. There is reasoning behind it.
“But on the other hand,” continued Xu, “we are also trying to maintain our unique design language. This is why there is consistency in the OnePlus 10 Pro, 11, 12, and now on the 13th. I mean, it’s a challenge [to develop devices that are both unique and popular]But we want to maintain our unique identity on all OnePlus products. »»
As far as we are concerned, this approach works – in our OnePlus 13 exam, we described the last flagship product of the company as “one of the best phones you can buy”. Now, OnePlus is not so small to put such an impressive phone in the hands of the faithful co -owners of Apple.
