As 'Boycott China' Trends On Social Media, OnePlus Phone Goes Out Of Sale

As protests to boycott Chinese products in India grow louder, a Bloomberg report suggests that smartphones are not yet prepared to operate independent of China.

With special focus on OnePlus, the popular electronics brand recently hosted the sale of its smartphone, the OnePlus 8 Pro in India, and within no time, the sale ran out within minutes. The Chinese smart-phone maker saw its latest model sold off within minutes in India on Thursday, June 19, despite increasing calls for boycott of Chinese goods following a border conflict between the two countries.

The OnePlus 8 Pro mobile phone was not available on Amazon.com Inc.'s local website just a few minutes after it was on sale. However, at the same time, #BoycottChineseProducts was among the top trends in India for two days, after Indian lost 20 of its bravehearts in a violent clash with Chinese troops in Ladakh's Galwan Valley on the night on June 15.

Several Indians took to Twitter to complain about being unable to buy the smartphone, despite waiting for days and weeks.

As per the Bloomberg report, China tops the list of exporters to India, with a trade surplus for China that is to tune of Rs 3.8 lakh crore.

For instance, OnePlus is owned by the Chinese company, BBK Electronics. which also owns Oppo, Vivo, Realme and Iqoo, all of which sell their smartphones on a large scale in India.

Oppo, Vivo and Realme are also among the most selling smartphone brands in India followed by Xiaomi, which is also another Chinese technology company.

While the decision to boycott Chinese goods in India has strengthened recently, on the back of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for vocal for local and 'aatmanirbhar' initiatives, it is yet to see how Indians are able to let go of these goods and the impact of this boycott on Chinese companies that have become household names in India.

Apart from a push to boycott goods from China, there has been increasing debates around the risk of data security linked with the Chinese companies, all of which point at the dicey future of the Chinese companies in India. This also increases pressure on India to step up its local manufacturing initiatives.

As of now, OnePlus and other smartphone brands are still successfully pulling off their products sales in India.

Also Read: 'Those Who Use Chinese Products Should Be Beaten Up, Homes Should Be Ransacked': Bengal BJP Leader