In a surprise announcement, OnePlus will announce a more affordable variant of its smart TV in India next month.
Last September, the OnePlus TV Q1 and Q1 Pro made their global debut in India, alongside the 7T, marking the company’s foray into the smart television market. However, at a base price of Rs 69,900, it was one of the more premium options in the market. A new development will delight consumers who were looking for something a little more affordable — an “accessible” variant of the smart TV will launch in India on July 2.
It’s official. We’re making our premium smart TV experience more accessible to our Indian community. #SmarterTV pic.twitter.com/gc7WUcVIxJJune 8, 2020
No further details were mentioned, but with the announcement almost a month away, we expect OnePlus to slowly start teasing more aspects of the TV. The call to fame for the Q1 series was the smart software implementation, along with class-leading panel quality and a cool set of slide-down speakers. It’s unclear how many of those will make it to the new OnePlus TV, but we expect smaller sizes to be available, likely to be 43-inch and a 32-inch model.
Some of the high-end features such as the 4K QLED panel, Dolby Atmos speakers and the fancy design might not make the cut, in an attempt to bring the prices lower. However, Oxygen OS features for Android TV 9.0 should make an appearance once again.
The name of the TV has not been mentioned. It could be a model in the Q1 family, or if the recent trends are any indication, a “OnePlus TV Z” isn’t too farfetched either. It will join the Bullets Wireless Z and the upcoming OnePlus Z as an affordable alternative of its flagship offerings.
The budget smart TV space has seen a lot of new players off-late, primarily from Xiaomi, Realme, Nokia and other manufacturers. While OnePlus may not be able to match their price, it will try to bring a feature set that is yet to be seen in this segment. ET Telecom suggests that there will be two models, one priced at around Rs 15,000 while the other could go up to Rs 40,000.
For context, the OnePlus TV Q1 Pro was priced at Rs 99,900, and sported a 50W eight-speaker array, four of which would slide down when needed. Even the OnePlus Z was earlier said to launch in India in July, but that could’ve been delayed now.
