Chinese smartphone manufacturer, OnePlus, has confirmed the launch date of its next generation phone, the OnePlus 3, which will be available from June 14th.
OnePlus 3
The OnePlus released its first phone (the imaginatively named OnePlus 1) in April 2014, to much critical acclaim, and showed the world that a sleek, innovative smartphone could be bought at a more reasonable price. This trend continues, and although the official price hasn’t been confirmed, it is expected to remain around the $300 price (that was the price of the OnePlus 2) for the unlocked smartphone.
Very few details have been officially released about the new phone, although Co-founder of the company, Carl Pei, said the new phone would have a slightly different look to older iterations, featuring a “new design”.
The new phone will be available at 12.30pm Eastern, for those attending the release, and will be launched alongside a virtual reality event, held in The Loop, which is an environment designed to resemble a spaceship. Those not lucky enough to be able to be present will have to wait until 3pm when the website (oneplus.net) will be open for orders.
No More Invitations
For the previous two generations of the phone, OnePlus used an awkward ‘invitation’ system, meaning unless you won a raffle on social media, were invited by a friend who owned one, or had signed up to reserve one, you had to wait an extra few months to get your hands on the budget phone.
Pei explained that this was about managing stock levels, “When we started this company, we had no idea how many people would want to buy our products. We didn’t want to risk a situation where people would come to our website and find out we had no stock, and no ETA on when we would get it,” he added. “For us it’s more important to grow sustainably rather than fast, so we’d rather err on the side of caution.”
Thankfully, now the business is a little more mature, (remember it only started in December 2013) and the June 14th release date will be when the phone is on general sale for all.
