New Delhi, April 30 -- Technology company OnePlus will make investments of Rs.2,000 crore every year until 2027 to boost research and development (R&D), manufacturing, and service ecosystem in India. OnePlus founder Pete Lau, in an interview with HT, said research emerging from India has allowed the company to develop globally relevant features for OxygenOS software, advanced camera capabilities, as well as learnings from optimised 5.5G capabilities in partnership with Reliance Jio. The company aims to build on that momentum, with the latest initiative focussing on not just OnePlus' Greater Noida production facility, but also its research centre in Hyderabad. "Project Starlight is a long-term strategic initiative designed to strengthen OnePlus's R&D, manufacturing, and service ecosystem in India. Backed by an annual investment of Rs 2,000 crore every year until 2027, the project focuses on three key pillars - building more durable devices, enhancing customer service, and developing India-first innovations," Lau told HT. This will coincide with the company's push into the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem, with Lau confirming some products would be launched in the coming months. These will sit alongside the wide portfolio of smartphones, tablets and wearables. There have been a series of important investments in India by tech companies and phone makers in recent months. This week, Samsung detailed a Rs.1,000 crore investment in a manufacturing facility near Chennai, and announced it had met the fifth-year target of Rs.25,000 crore worth of incremental manufacturing under the smartphone Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme. A renewed Rs.22,919 crore Performance Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for electronics was approved this month by the government. In January, Samsung announced plans to significantly increase investments in its Indian R&D centres located in Bengaluru and Noida. These are Samsung's largest such facilities outside South Korea, and are crucial to developing AI features. Apple's iPhone production in India surged by 60% in 2024, now estimated at around $22 billion - and there are ongoing discussions to shift production of US-bound iPhones from China to India in the coming years. The tech giant, reliant on partners Foxconn and Tata Electronics, increased production capacity annually as part of a broader vision to strengthen manufacturing bases in countries other than China. This has firmly established India as a key hub, with value of iPhones exported from India in the year estimated at $17.4 billion. India is the second largest smartphone market in the world based on unit volume sales. According to research firm Indian Data Corporation (IDC), the country's smartphone market grew 4% year-on-year, with shipments reaching 151 million units in 2024. This, at a time when most countries registered negative trajectory. "This growth is attributed to multiple factors, including the rise in 5G smartphone shipments, accounting for 79% of total sales. India's smartphone industry is poised to surpass $50 billion in 2025. By 2029, the market is expected to reach 243.4 million units, far exceeding global averages," said Lau. India's importance for OnePlus extends beyond just a market for selling smartphones, tablets and wearables. OnePlus began manufacturing in the country in 2017, and every generation of flagship phones has been made here, including the current generation OnePlus 13 series. There's greater purchasing power too, reflective in phones Indians are buying. "Indians are now increasingly opting for mid-to-high-end smartphones," Lau explained. Lau said he was convinced "smartphone companies should consider building products tailored for the Indian market." He pointed to the company's internal research, which indicates that smartphone users in India are among the most active, with daily screen time averaging 5.7 hours. Among reasons for Lau being bullish about India were examples of features developed in India which found acceptance in other countries. Case in point, an Intelligent Search feature in OxygenOS, which was subsequently rolled out for users in the US and Europe. "To address India's complex network scenarios, we optimised network performance, which also improved network stability when implemented in Europe and the US," he pointed out. The 5.5G capability, in partnership with Jio, builds on an ability to reconnect after exiting low-network indoor spaces such as elevators, and switching networks in areas of mobile network congestion....