Inside the Red Cable Club: Robin Liu on how OnePlus built India’s most loyal tech community

In the world of consumer tech, ‘community’ is a word brands love to throw around. But for OnePlus, it’s never been just a buzzword, it’s a core part of how the company operates.

From the early days, OnePlus has taken a rather participatory approach to building smartphones. While most brands obsess over launch timelines and top-down innovation, OnePlus has spent the last 10 years tuning in to the people holding its devices. The result? A loyal, vocal, and 28-million-strong user base in India alone.

That story of feedback loops, product co-creation, and earned trust came into focus during the latest episode of The Unboxed Backroom, where OnePlus India CEO Robin Liu sat down with Croma CEO & MD Shibashish Roy. Their conversation was a reflection on what it takes to build brand equity in a market that’s fast-moving and fiercely discerning.

A connector disguised as a charging cable

Before there was a community strategy, there was a cable. A bright red one that came bundled with the first OnePlus phone. It was a small design choice, meant to stand out. And it did. Not in a lab, but in the real world. At airports, coffee shops, meetups, and pretty much everywhere. People began noticing others carrying the same cord. A signal turned into a conversation starter.

What happened next wasn’t entirely planned. OnePlus spotted the organic momentum and formalised it through the Red Cable Club (RCC), a platform that did more than reward loyalty. RCC became a space where users could attend closed-door feedback sessions, get early access to new products, and influence future features. It became a bridge between the company and its users.

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“Now the red cable isn’t just for charging”, said Liu during the podcast. “It’s a connector between people”. Today, RCC is one of India’s most active tech communities; a presence that goes beyond fan pages or social media threads. It’s part of the OnePlus operating model.

Where feedback doesn’t go to die

For OnePlus, feedback isn’t collected for optics. It’s treated as input. That philosophy powers initiatives like Open Ear Forums (OEFs), where the company’s product and R&D teams sit down with users, not just in Delhi or Mumbai, but across tier-2 and tier-3 cities, to hear what’s working, and what isn’t.

Some features come directly from these interactions. Zen Mode, the company’s digital detox tool, wasn’t dreamed up in a boardroom. It originated as a user’s request for a soft way to disconnect; not as extreme as airplane mode, but enough to create some distance from notifications. The suggestion caught on, and the feature rolled out in future builds.

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This sort of real-time, real-user development cycle is rare in the smartphone space, where decisions are often locked months before launch. At OnePlus, that door stays open longer.

Listening as a long-term strategy

In an industry that thrives on novelty and quick upgrades, keeping users engaged between launches is tricky. That’s where OnePlus’s community-first model creates stickiness.

When the brand faced display issues with earlier devices, it could’ve leaned on standard warranty clauses. Instead, it launched Project Starlight – a dedicated effort to fix the problem for users who were affected.

“From a brand perspective, we can say it’s a tech issue”, Liu said. “But from a user perspective, it’s our issue. That’s how we see it”. Moments like that build trust. And trust isn’t something you can flash on a spec sheet, but it shows up when people choose to stay, even when things go wrong.

Rethinking what 'premium' means

For a long time, premium smartphones were all about raw specs. Those metrics still matter. But in markets like India, where users weigh every feature against real-world value, something else is starting to matter too – being heard.

ALSO READ: Green line issue: OnePlus to now offer lifetime warranty against affected displays

That’s not easy to quantify, but it plays out in how forgiving users are during hiccups, or how likely they are to recommend a brand to someone else. When customers feel like they’re part of the process, when their input visibly shapes what a brand puts out, the phone in their hand feels personal.

Croma’s vantage point

The crossover with The Unboxed Backroom wasn’t coincidental. Croma, too, interacts with tech buyers every day – online, in-store, and across platforms. It sees firsthand what excites, what frustrates, and what keeps people coming back. For a brand like OnePlus that thrives on user insights, Croma’s lens adds another layer of relevance to the conversation.

Their joint episode highlighted what happens when product thinking is shaped not just by engineers, but by everyday interactions. Cables that spark communities, feedback that drives features, and users who show up, not just for what a brand makes, but how it listens.