One Plus Ten Years, a journey that will not be compromised

A few years later, if you open the history of OnePlus, you will find that it is densely written with four big words: polishing products.

Text: You Yong

Edited by Zhou Luping

In April 2014, at Wukesong Stadium in Beijing, OnePlus's first mobile phone was released here. This is the first time that Liu Zuohu has held a new product launch conference as the founder of OnePlus. The whole venue is very simple, the stage is very small, there are very high steps on both sides, and the PPT is played all by a curtain, looking down from above, a bit like the Taoist practice in the movie.

But there were a lot of people in the audience, including Ding Lei, the owner of NetEase, who persuaded Liu Zuohu not to make mobile phones, Wang Xiang, who later went to Xiaomi but was still in Qualcomm at the time, and Liu Zuohu's Hubei fellow Wang Xiaosong, who was still in Jingdong at the time. In addition to these bigwigs in the front row, there are also more than 300 "cheers" and hundreds of media from all over the country sitting in the back row.

Fans and media at the scene were friendly and enthusiastic about this newly born brand, and some even shouted male gods in the audience. All this made Liu Zuohu, who was not good at words, very moved, and was flattered after saying a few words in a row, feeling that whoever shouted one more thing would make his tears fall.

Ten years later, Liu Zuohu, who has returned to operate OPPO, has returned to the familiar stage of OnePlus. Although this brand created by him was handed over to Li Jie to operate, he took OnePlus through the first decade, giving the brand a unique tonality and genes, and also witnessing the ups and downs of the mobile phone industry.

In the past decade, the mobile phone market has undergone earth-shaking changes, with 4G switching to 5G, straight board evolving to folding, leading big brothers changing batch after batch, and a number of long-tail brands have been lost in the long river of history. And OnePlus's field is still full of friends, but compared to the weak and young back then, OnePlus has now put on a handsome suit and grown into an adult.

01

Born in the Golden Age

OnePlus officially debuted at the end of 2013. It was a golden and savage age.

Although it has been a few years since the smartphone revolution set off by the iPhone 4, brands such as OV have switched from feature phones to smartphones. However, the outbreak of market demand has just begun, and in 2013, it caught up with the tuyere of switching from 3G to 4G, which also gave rise to a large number of replacement needs. At the end of this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued 4G licenses to the three major operators, officially announcing the entry into the mobile Internet era.

It is difficult for even the most optimistic person to imagine the madness of the market at that time. IDC predicted that the Chinese market would grow by 44% year-on-year in 2013. As a result, at the end of the year, the country's smartphone shipments soared from 196 million units to 353 million units, a year-on-year increase of more than 80%, and in 2015 it broke through the 400 million mark, and this momentum did not begin to decline until it reached its peak in 2017.

Such a big outlet has attracted countless people to bow down to the game, and hundreds of mobile phone brands have been established. There are strong and powerful, there are upstarts, and there are speculators who want to cut a wave and leave, and even Internet giants such as Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu were eyeing the mobile phone market at that time, and regarded it as the entrance to the mobile Internet. Zhou Hongyi even said that he would bring an AK47 and go to the south to make a mobile phone.

This year, Xiaomi also launched the Redmi brand, and the first mobile phone was only sold for 799 yuan, which shocked the four seats. In order to snipe Xiaomi's momentum on the Internet, Huawei set up an Internet mobile phone brand Honor in this year, and Lao Luo also released the ROM of the hammer mobile phone in this year, and then released the first mobile phone T1.

On the surface, it seems that the market competition is very fierce, but there are many people who are eager for quick success and quick profit, and they are eager to release new products every month all year round, and even some brands propose that mobile phones do not make money or give them away for free, and rely on Internet services to make money.

In fact, most mobile phone manufacturers spend money to find OEM OEMs, and they are used to stacking configurations to compare prices, and cost performance was the most popular way to compete that year. Very few people really care about the experience and the product itself, let alone go to high-end brands and wrestle with Apple and Samsung. Some brands even shouted "no design is the best design", so as to save costs and improve the yield rate.

Liu Zuohu saw that the opportunity had come, and he was not good at marketing hype, but we were good at making products. I will do the mobile phone that others do not have the patience to make, and I will pet the users that others do not spoil.

To say that in the hustle and bustle of the mobile phone rivers and lakes back then, there were only a handful of founders who were willing to settle down to polish their products, Liu Zuohu counted one, Lao Luo counted one, and Meizu's Huang Zhang was also counted as one.

At that time, Liu Zuohu was already well-known in the circle, and the OPPO Blu-ray machine and Find 5 he operated attracted much attention. In particular, the OPPO Blu-ray machine is popular in the European and American geek circles, and the domestic Zhou Hongyi and Wang Xiaochuan are all fans of the OPPO Blu-ray machine. This not only laid the tone for OnePlus to polish its products, but also laid a good foundation for OnePlus's subsequent word-of-mouth communication.

It can also be seen from the results that the three brands of OnePlus, Meizu and Hammer were the few brands in China that had loyal fans at that time, and these fans had distinct personalities, not only invested a lot of enthusiasm for the product and the brand itself, but also had their own aesthetics and understanding. It's just a pity that one sold himself to Geely, the other fell in 2018, made a friend, owed 600 million foreign debts, and left only OnePlus as a lone seedling.

02

A decade for OnePlus

Yijia only released one or two new products the year before, only made Android flagships, no pre-installed software, clean Android native system, and only did online channels. Even because of the good sales overseas, overseas sales were once much higher than those in China.

OnePlus was really popular overseas back then. After the release of the OnePlus 1, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine and other major international media reported on OnePlus, and Time Magazine even called the OnePlus 1 a "dream phone". At that time, the praise of OnePlus 1 by overseas media was enough to put down a few pages of PPT. So much so that many users will add a sentence when introducing OnePlus, which is the mobile phone brand that is often queued up to buy overseas.

Even Lao Luo once commented on OnePlus: In the history of the development of Chinese smartphones, OnePlus has always been a very unique existence. It is clearly not on the ordinary, it is clearly an outlier. But in the process, there was neither confrontation nor rebellion, neither controversy nor gossip. It's just quietly and steadily taking a path that is different from anyone else, and it's done a great job.

Although Lao Luo's remarks have elements of commercial blowing, they basically accurately summarize the image of OnePlus in the past ten years.

A very realistic situation is that at OnePlus's press conference, Liu Zuohu has always said: products... Products...... Do whatever it takes to make a good product... It feels so TM in the hand.

This style has been around since the first generation. At the one-and-a-half-hour press conference that year, Liu Zuohu put the mobile phone configuration in a page of PPT, and talked about it for less than a minute, and the rest of the time was all about the product and feel.

For example, in order to achieve a better feel of the back cover, Liu Zuohu searched all over the world, and finally found a paint "BabySkin" that has never been commercially used in Japan, just like the name, can make the plastic shell into a high-end texture. Hence the famous saying "it feels so good".

Liu Zuohu's character is like this. Liu Zuohu let go of everything that has nothing to do with the product, and the product week meeting every Tuesday night is almost every time. And every time he press conference, he would write "OnePlus Chief Product Officer" in front of his title. Everyone else is a gimmick, he does, he just holds a mobile phone when he has nothing to do, keeps scratching, picking thorns and finding faults.

Some media people commented that he "doesn't listen to the affairs of the circle, and only wants to make mobile phones", in Liu Zuohu's words, "It's a happy thing to be able to focus on making products".

This kind of thinking of making products is engraved in the bones, when others are staking the ground, he is polishing the product, and when others are packaging hype, he is polishing the product. OnePlus phones have always had such a saying in the machine circle - the real machine looks better than the real picture. Liu Zuohu firmly believes in a simple philosophy: slow work can produce fine work, and the products that take one year to polish are definitely different from those made by others in three months.

Liu Zuohu is a person who has suffered losses. In 2015, the mobile phone market was still growing rapidly, but this year, OnePlus had a very difficult time because of the lack of strategic focus.

Mr. Liu later sent an internal email, emphasizing that "the company must focus and put limited resources where they are needed most." Before the OnePlus 3 was launched, Liu Zuohu was nervous and worried about repeating the mistakes of the past, but on the way home at night, Liu Zuohu suddenly figured out that the previous generation of products was not good in the final analysis, and the duty was to do the right thing. What's the right thing to do?

In 2016, the all-metal design OnePlus 3 returned again, and fate did not make this man who was dedicated to polishing the product sweat again. OnePlus 3/3T has sold more than 2.5 million copies worldwide, far exceeding previous generations, and all flagship phones sold are more than 2,500 yuan.

OnePlus has repeatedly tasted the sweetness of polishing products over the years, such as OnePlus 7 Pro, the biggest highlight of this mobile phone is that OnePlus invested 100 million yuan and spent two years polishing the high-brush screen, which achieved a double harvest of word-of-mouth sales, and even drove the high-brush screen to become popular in the entire mobile phone circle. Of course, with the exception of the always tsundere iPhone, Apple didn't start using high swipe screen until the iPhone 13 series in 2022.

In the words of one cheerman, "OnePlus has given me the calmness to face big brands without being arrogant." ”

In 2021, after Lao Luo transformed to live broadcast and sell goods, he gave OnePlus the first time to sell mobile phone brands. The first question Lao Luo asked was: Why can OnePlus go so steadily in such a competitive market? When everyone was expecting Liu Zuohu to say some golden sentences or methodology, he slowly said four words: make a good product.

In the same year, Liu Zuohu handed over OnePlus to Li Jie, and before making this decision, the two chatted for more than two hours in Shenzhen Overseas Chinese Town, and Li Jie basically forgot about the other content, but he was only impressed by one sentence. At that time, Liu Zuohu said to him: "It's not for you to do marketing, it's for you to make products."

One trick is fresh, eat all over the world. A few years later, if you open the history of OnePlus, you will find that it is densely written with four big words: polishing products.

03

Big can also be "beautiful"

Before OnePlus 9, OnePlus was the most labeled by people, in addition to being keen on polishing products, there was also "small but beautiful". Although OnePlus often says that it sells well in Europe, America and India, and it is considered to be nourishing, the total amount is limited after all.

In 2020, Liu Zuohu sent an internal letter, admitting that it has always been called "small and beautiful" in the past, and next, I hope everyone must have a sense of crisis and ambition, so that OnePlus can be more than "small and beautiful". In Liu Zuohu's words, we want to let OnePlus's story be seen by more people.

In fact, the geek and niche labels put OnePlus in a dilemma for a while. If you take a bigger step and fail to keep up with your ability, you will be criticized again, but OnePlus doesn't want to be limited to the existing pool, with a bigger sea of stars, and feels that it is necessary to release the advantages of making products to more price segments.

However, there is no point in asking for harshness regardless of the historical context. As Steve Jobs once said, "3.5 inches is the most suitable screen size for humans, and mobile phones that exceed this optimal size are rarely appreciated by customers." ”

Fortunately, Cook did not rigidly follow this iron rule, and of course no one blamed Jobs for being short-sighted. Every choice has historical limitations, and at that point in time, Jobs was right. There is nothing wrong with OnePlus's choice, the product and strategy are all evolving dynamically, and it is impossible to think about what to do in ten years from the beginning.

It's actually like a brand called Lululemon, which started with a pair of professional yoga pants, which was loved by female users in North America, and eventually became a unique fashion method for users around the world. OnePlus was also a hit in the Silicon Valley geek circle back then and became a social password. In fact, Lululemon is not limited to women's yoga pants and other home wear, but also devotes itself to the men's wear business, and has successively launched four new categories: shoe series, tennis series, men's golf series, and hiking series.

Today, OnePlus is no longer limited to digital flagships. In 2022, OnePlus launched the Ace series products focusing on the performance track, and under the dual-product line strategy, OnePlus grew against the trend and went to the masses. According to Counterpoint's research report, in the second quarter of 2023, the global smartphone market sales fell by 8% year-on-year, but it is worth noting that in the first half of this year, OnePlus's sales increased by 335% year-on-year, making it the fastest growing brand in the industry.

04

Has OnePlus changed?

On the 10th anniversary of OnePlus, a "fireside night talk" was held in Shenzhen, which was ridiculed by many netizens as a "night talk around Lu", thinking that it was aimed at Xiaomi. It seems a bit nonsensical, but netizens are happy to see it. Because not only Mr. Lu, but even Mr. Lei has named OnePlus many times at the conference.

There is no love for no reason in the world, and there is no hate for no reason.

OnePlus's ferocity in the online market in the past two years has hit Xiaomi's turf. In 2023, OnePlus will become the TOP3 Android in the online 2000+ yuan market, and it will still be in ninth place in the same period last year, and it will be in the top three in the class in one year. Xiaomi was naturally the first not to agree. It's like the students who were sitting in the corner of the class in the past were suddenly called to the front row by the teacher, and they were at the same table, which attracted a lot of attention, and no one would feel comfortable in their hearts.

Especially now that the market has not increased, there is even a trend of declining year by year. One Plus takes an extra bite, which means that other families eat one less, and although they can't starve to death, no one is willing to give it up. If you are not afraid of the hardships of your friends, you are afraid that your friends will open a Land Rover.

As early as 2018, on the fifth anniversary of OnePlus, Qualcomm did an interview with Liu Zuohu and asked him how he thought about the next five years. Liu Zuohu said: I hope that five years later, OnePlus will still be alive and healthy. As a result, OnePlus is not only alive and healthy, but also lively and jumping, turning the online 2000+ market upside down.

OnePlus's idea is very clear, and now there are two product lines: the digital series focuses on high-end flagships, and the Ace series focuses on performance benchmarks, covering the market from 2000-5000 yuan, which belongs to picking the fattest meat in the pot. And the digital series plays the Xiaomi digital series, and the Ace series plays Redmi's K series, and the main thing is that it does not suffer losses.

The changes of OnePlus began in early 2022, when OnePlus and OPPO completed the integration, and the two brands shared the underlying architecture, platform, technology and supply chain, but had their own positioning and independent R&D operations. It can be said that this integration has given OnePlus more power to fight a tough battle.

Li Jie, who has worked at OPPO for ten years, succeeded Liu Zuohu as the president of OnePlus China. Li Jie has been responsible for the product planning of the Find series and the strategic planning of OPPO China at OPPO. His personality is a bit similar to Liu Zuohu, he is not impatient when he speaks, and he is deeply influenced by this branch, unless he really can't help it, he will not easily take the initiative to attack.

After Li Jie took over, he was indeed making OnePlus less Buddhist. With words such as "don't walk into this arena gently", "don't give this world to mediocre products", "surpass all Snapdragon 8gen3 Pro models" and other words, OnePlus's actions have also become bigger, engaging in "tens of billions of subsidies", putting forward the goal of 2000+ online market share in three years, and saying that "the comprehensive net profit margin of hardware can be 0 within 3 years", and the current 2000+ market is in a mess.

However, OnePlus's marketing style has changed, but OnePlus's core insistence has never changed. Just like Liu Zuohu said in the fireside chat, OnePlus still adheres to the three no's principle: don't follow, don't blindly follow, and don't compromise.

In the past ten years, OnePlus has not been parametric, but more balanced in many aspects such as design, process, performance and software experience. Judging from the results, it is not so much the foresight of Liu Zuohu and OnePlus as the fact that they have not changed.

In the past ten years, OnePlus has created a lot of products with both word-of-mouth and sales, and there are also some products that have not met expectations, but OnePlus has shown one thing every time: the fight and killing of the rivers and lakes are temporary, and it is eternal to return to the original intention of the product and polish the product to create user value.

Ten years ago, musician Southeast created a theme song "Don't Compromise" for OnePlus, which just had a full moon, with a good melody, pop singing, rap singing, and Liu Zuohu also starred in the MV himself. One of the lyrics is very well written: Tomorrow you are waiting for you.

Ten years later, the theme of OnePlus's fireside night chat is called "Those who meet will meet again", which seems to echo OnePlus's confession to today ten years ago. Especially after experiencing the chaos of recent years, it is obvious that OnePlus is accumulating explosive energy, and as long as the underlying logic of OnePlus does not change, the story of OnePlus in the next decade will still be very exciting.