India, May 20 -- India's smartphone market has always been a contradiction. It is deeply price-conscious, yet increasingly willing to spend big when the product feels worth it. Sitting down with Goldee Patnaik, Head of PR and Communications at OPPO India, and Simon Liu, OPPO's Global Imaging Director, I got the sense that OPPO sees the Find X9 Ultra not merely as another premium smartphone, but as its clearest bet yet on India's growing appetite for "ultra" flagships.

Patnaik framed it in terms of a shift that he believes is already underway in India. "Consumers are moving from a price mindset to a value mindset," he told me, pointing to growth in the premium and ultra-premium segments. For him, the smartphone is no longer "just a tool",...