Smartphone New-Comers Announce New Device

folarin okunola

April 21, 2015 3:59 PM

When the OnePlus One made its debut last year, we all fell in love with it. Now there's a sophomore version.

OnePlus One

Newbie smartphone company, OnePlus has removed the invite bar to buy its One smartphone and also announced a date for its follow-up flagship device.

The One, which cost $299- and is great value for money, launched a year ago but, until today, customers needed an invite to purchase it. This was a strategy to both manage the level of interest in a new product from a new company, and generate a more attention among the tech community.

“We now feel confident that we have matured enough to handle the increased complexity that comes along with opening up sales completely,” OnePlus said in a blog post, which acknowledged it had learned “an immeasurable amount” during its first year of business.

OnePlus also announced today that its new device – the OnePlus 2 – will launch in the third quarter of this year. The new device will also be available only via an invite, so the company isn’t discarding its sales restrictions yet.

OnePlus, based in China is one of the new hardware firms emerging in the sub-$300 smartphone category. Xiaomi, which sold over 60 million phones last year, is the most prominent example, but others include Le TV and Smartisan. OnePlus sold a relatively modest one million devices in its first year, but it seemed to get attention outside China and has developed its own unique software and for those reasons, its follow-up smartphone is worthy of note.

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