CEO Pete Lau Confirms OnePlus 2 Flagship Smartphone Will Be Priced Below $450
Give the OnePlus team credit, it knows how to hype a product launch and create buzz. It's an art that companies like Apple have mastered, and while OnePlus is not on the same playing field as Tim Cook and company, both are really good at getting media attention. That said, one of the big reasons the OnePlus is so popular is because of the value proposition. Will that be the case when the OnePlus Two comes out?
There have been rumors that the OnePlus Two would top the $500 mark, though don't believe it. OnePlus CEO Pete Lau put to rest exaggerated price claims by promising on his company's Google+ page that the OnePlus Two will sell for less than $450. And then he said something...odd.
"Honestly, it's never been about the price. We simply make the best smartphones we can, and we go from there," Lau said.
At face value, Lau's statement underestimates how much price plays into the popularity of the OnePlus. That's especially going to be true of the OnePlus Two, which doesn't have the benefit of CyanogenMod being on board. Regardless, it was certainly about the price when the OnePlus sold for just $300 to $350, and cost was the main subject of a recent blog post announcing a permanent price cut to $249, all sans subsidies.
"Since launch, OnePlus has always been about disrupting the smartphone industry. The current market is saturated with devices vying for your attention with the misleading specs and unnecessary gimmicks. These devices often come with a hefty price tag as well, to accommodate retail channel costs, commercials on TV, and ads in the subway. OnePlus was founded to actively break away from this business model," OnePlus stated a month ago.
"We designed the best phone we could – a user-driven, beautifully designed device – and sold it at cost to put great tech back in the hands of users," the company continued.
So yes, it's always been about price, at least to some extent. But whatever, it's kind of a moot point since the OnePlus Two will still be a comparatively affordable handset. The hope at this point is that it comes in a good chunk less than $450, as opposed to $449.99. It's not necessarily wishful thinking -- prior to the OnePlus One's launch, Lau stated on Google+ that the handset would be "priced below $500 USD unlocked and off-contract, guaranteed."
With its upgraded hardware, I don't anticipate the OnePlus Two will cost less than the OnePlus One did at launch. At minimum, the OnePlus Two will sport a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 System-on-Chip (SoC), fingerprint scanner, and USB Type-C connector. Other specs have not yet been confirmed.
There have been rumors that the OnePlus Two would top the $500 mark, though don't believe it. OnePlus CEO Pete Lau put to rest exaggerated price claims by promising on his company's Google+ page that the OnePlus Two will sell for less than $450. And then he said something...odd.
"Honestly, it's never been about the price. We simply make the best smartphones we can, and we go from there," Lau said.
At face value, Lau's statement underestimates how much price plays into the popularity of the OnePlus. That's especially going to be true of the OnePlus Two, which doesn't have the benefit of CyanogenMod being on board. Regardless, it was certainly about the price when the OnePlus sold for just $300 to $350, and cost was the main subject of a recent blog post announcing a permanent price cut to $249, all sans subsidies.
"Since launch, OnePlus has always been about disrupting the smartphone industry. The current market is saturated with devices vying for your attention with the misleading specs and unnecessary gimmicks. These devices often come with a hefty price tag as well, to accommodate retail channel costs, commercials on TV, and ads in the subway. OnePlus was founded to actively break away from this business model," OnePlus stated a month ago.
"We designed the best phone we could – a user-driven, beautifully designed device – and sold it at cost to put great tech back in the hands of users," the company continued.
So yes, it's always been about price, at least to some extent. But whatever, it's kind of a moot point since the OnePlus Two will still be a comparatively affordable handset. The hope at this point is that it comes in a good chunk less than $450, as opposed to $449.99. It's not necessarily wishful thinking -- prior to the OnePlus One's launch, Lau stated on Google+ that the handset would be "priced below $500 USD unlocked and off-contract, guaranteed."
With its upgraded hardware, I don't anticipate the OnePlus Two will cost less than the OnePlus One did at launch. At minimum, the OnePlus Two will sport a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 System-on-Chip (SoC), fingerprint scanner, and USB Type-C connector. Other specs have not yet been confirmed.
