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This, on a day, when the Chinese handset maker announced the availability of its new flagship foldable 5G smartphone in UK and Europe at a high octane event in London and also signalled its imminent launch in India.
“The Make in India story for us is super important, and getting the more premium devices<\/a> assembled or made in India, is obviously an aspiration we have,” Damyant Singh Khanoria, chief marketing officer, Oppo<\/a> India told ET, on the sidelines of the high-profile Find N2 Flip launch event in London.
He added that while local manufacturing of such premium smartphones would require innovative business models, Oppo’s global leadership believes in the long term potential of the Indian market. “The reason we are bringing premium products like Find N2 Flip to India is because we believe in the long term potential of the market.”
Khanoria, though, clarified that Oppo’s Hyderabad R&D Center had no role in the development of the Find N2 Flip smartphone. “Our Hyderabad R&D Center is involved in other projects, the Find N2 Flip has largely been developed out of our headquarters.”
Oppo also declined to immediately reveal the India launch date or the India pricing of its Find N2 Flip 5G smartphone which is priced at £849 (almost Rs 87k) in the UK. “The India launch is imminent, but I can’t share the date and pricing specifics…give us a couple of weeks and we’ll share the details,” Khanoria said.
But Oppo, he said, isn’t too worried about the likely market response in India to a premium priced product.
“We are confident about Oppo’s Find N2 Flip and don’t think pricing will be a massive issue as consumers in India have a healthy appetite for a new form factor and are conscious about value, in that, they want a product that justifies the price they pay, and we believe we have a product that ticks all boxes,” Khanoria said.
Oppo, in fact, expects the Find N2 Flip smartphone will be critical to the growth of the foldable category of smartphones in India and the world.