OnePlus has been able to sail through the anti-China backlash in India unscathed for now. The company's newly launched 2020 flagships have been critically-acclaimed flagships of the year and the Indian consumers have been in awe of the new phones. Sadly, the OnePlus 8 Pro hasn't been in stock ever since it got sold out last month.
OnePlus launched the OnePlus 8 Po in April and the flagship went on sale on June 15. While the company's vanilla OnePlus 8 is in stock, the demand for the premium smartphone has been extremely high so the company decided to hold flash sales twice a week. But the company hasn't restocked the OnePlus 8 Pro, creating more demand for the phone in the black market.
OnePlus 8 Pro demand in India unprecedented
The pre-owned smartphone market is on a constant rise and the COVID-19 pandemic has created more demand for used smartphones as consumers find it difficult to spend top dollar on a new phone. A Delloitte India report had predicted that the country's used smartphone market is expected to reach $4 billion by 2020. This prediction was made before the coronavirus pandemic, and new analysis could be different.
While the new statistics are awaited, the used smartphone market in India has been buzzing with the demand for OnePlus 8 Pro. The fact that the smartphone is out of stock, it makes it a prized possession and fans are willing to pay a premium to get their hands on the OnePlus 8 Pro.
IBTimes spoke to two local used mobile phone dealers in Bengaluru to get an understanding of OnePlus 8 Pro's demand since the phone is "out of stock" on Amazon India and the company's official website. One of the dealers said people are willing to pay thousands extra for either a used OnePlus 8 Pro or a brand new one, but they haven't been able to meet the full demand of interested buyers.
"We receive hundreds of queries about used OnePlus 8 Pro. Some people are willing to pay extra to get a sealed unit. Even a used OnePlus 8 Pro is selling higher than the phone's MRP," said one mobile dealer, who runs 3 mobile sales and repair centers across Bengaluru, Mohammed Abubakar told IBTimes.
The demand is not limited to Bengaluru. Another multi-brand mobile retailer Imran Hussain of iMobiles in Andhra Pradesh said he sold one OnePlus 8 Pro sealed unit for a whopping Rs 65,000 as the buyer insisted and was willing to pay any price for the phone. Imran shared the video of the OnePlus 8 Pro's 12GB+256GB model unboxing by the owner who paid the premium price.
"The demand is nothing like we've seen before. This kind of demand used to be common with iPhones, when Apple used to launch their newest models abroad first and in India later. Some dealers used to fly to Dubai just to buy iPhones and sell them to fanboys in India at a premium price. OnePlus is the only brand after Apple that has created such a demand. There are legit customers happily willing to pay up to Rs 65,000 for the 8 Pro," Imran told IBTimes.
A quick search for OnePlus 8 Pro on Olx, India's popular platform for buying and selling used items, showed our research was consistent with the demand for the phone across India. Some ads on Olx for a brand new OnePlus 8 Pro were posted for as high as Rs 72,000. To give perspective, the iPhone 11's base model sells for Rs 73,000 in India.
Check out some Olx ads below:
OnePlus 8 Pro next sale in India
There's no word on when OnePlus might restock the OnePlus 8 Pro in India. For those unaware, OnePlus 8 Pro comes in 8GB+128GB and 12GB+256GB models, priced at Rs 44,999 and Rs 49,999, respectively.
We've reached out to the company about the phone's next sale date in the country. We also enquired about the phone's demand in the black market in India.
Meanwhile, people have been asking OnePlus about the next sale details on Twitter as well. See some of the reactions below:
Would you pay extra to get your hands on OnePlus 8 Pro or you'd rather wait for the official sale? Let us know in the comments below or tag @ibtimes_india in your tweets.
Sami Khan is a reporter with IBTimes India, and primarily writes on technology. He tweets from @SamiKhan_IBT
