HIGHLIGHTS
- OnePlus and Realme Reportedly Stop Selling TVs in India.
- OnePlus TV made its debut in 2019.
- Realme introduced its first TVs in 2020.
Although OnePlus and Realme are best known for their smartphones, they have also been producing Google TV-enabled smart TVs for some time. But it appears to be coming to an end shortly, at least in India.
In 2019, OnePlus TV made its debut with a high-end all-in-one design that included an integrated soundbar on a 55-inch QLED TV. Over the following few years, new versions, including more economical tiers, were produced, and earlier this year, OnePlus switched from Android TV to Google TV. Realme, on the other hand, introduced its first TVs in India in 2020 and has since made a Google TV streaming stick available there.
According to reports by Times of India, which cited industry sources, the Google TV-powered OnePlus TV and Realme TV products will no longer be offered in India, thereby killing off the entire line of smart TVs because they were only really sold in that country.
The abrupt action is unexpected given that both OnePlus and Realme apparently saw growth in TV sales in India as the nation’s smart TV industry grew. As a powerful company that recently defeated Samsung for the top spot, Xiaomi appears to be here to stay in the market.
Both the brand’s own online shop in India and resellers like Flipkart are still offering the OnePlus TV for purchase. Customers were becoming more accepting of the two businesses’ competitive pricing and TV-related products. Because of services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney Hotstar, and others, smart TV adoption has increased in India in recent years.
According to the survey, OnePlus and Realme made investments in developing their brands and sales channels in this market. The market for TVs is dominated by established brands like LG, Samsung, Sony, and Panasonic, as well as newcomers from China like Xiaomi and TCL, as well as domestic brands like Vu and Thomson (under brand licensing).
It’s interesting that OnePlus and Realme have chosen to leave the market at a time when TV sales are rapidly increasing. The ongoing cricket World Cup, in which India is one of the top competitors, and the concurrent holiday season, which has raised sales of gadgets, notably televisions, are driving this development.
