OnePlus buyer’s guide - Everything you need to know about the brand - Android
As early as five years ago, OnePlus was barely a blip on the radar to the general tech consumer. Nowadays, the brand is becoming very well known as a global powerhouse in the smartphone industry. It’s also starting to branch out to other technology markets.
You may have heard of OnePlus before, but know little about the brand. What’s the company’s history? What products does it offer? What has made it so successful? This OnePlus buyer’s guide will help answer many of those questions, and even some others you might not have thought of yet.
OnePlus is a Chinese technology company that mostly makes smartphones. The co-founders — Pete Lau (CEO, shown above) and Carl Pei (Director) — started the company in late 2013. Both Lau and Pei formerly worked for another Chinese technology brand called Oppo — a subsidiary of BBK Electronics.
Related: Who is BBK, the world’s second-largest smartphone manufacturer?
Although it might seem that OnePlus would be a subsidiary of Oppo, both companies deny this. Instead, they each claim that OnePlus acts as its own separate brand. However, because of their close connection and BBK overseeing both of them, OnePlus has access to various Oppo infrastructure. This helps OnePlus create products cheaply since it doesn’t need to fully invest in its own R&D, manufacturing equipment, etc.
As an example of this, OnePlus was founded in December 2013, and released its first smartphone four months later. There’s simply no way a company could do something like that without significant assistance.
OnePlus is its own separate electronics brand, but it's connected behind-the-scenes to much larger companies.
Regardless of how OnePlus makes its products, the brand’s primary focus is on smartphones. Each year since 2015 it has released at least two new phones. In addition, it’s released several mobile-focused products, such as headphones, cases, and other accessories. It’s also created various apps and services for phones, such as OnePlus Switch — an app that helps you move your phone data to a OnePlus device — and OnePlus Pay — a mobile wallet service that’s coming to India soon.
Recently, the brand has expanded out of the smartphone space and into other markets. In 2019, for example, it released its first television — the OnePlus TV.
Related: OnePlus phones: A history of the company’s entire lineup thus far
As stated earlier, OnePlus primarily creates Android smartphones. In its early days, it was known for making high-powered phones with unique design elements and low price tags. We saw this in its first phone, the OnePlus One, which had a starting cost of just $300.
As the brand attained more footing in the industry, it slowly raised its prices. In 2020, its two flagship phones — the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro — launched with much more traditional pricing. However, the OnePlus 8’s starting price of $699 is still very competitive, especially when you consider the starting price of a Samsung Galaxy S20 is $999.
OnePlus differentiates itself from the competition by approaching its design and software from a somewhat minimalist perspective. The company’s smartphones are always simple and elegant, focusing heavily on usability. Likewise, its software — known as Oxygen OS — is frequently heralded as one of the best Android skins ever made. This praise is usually based on how fast, smooth, and bloat-free the software is.
OnePlus also fully embraced internet marketing and sales from the beginning. Almost all of its products are available directly from its website, which eliminates the need to visit carriers or deal with third-party price markups. However, as time has gone on, the company has limited its products to certain areas of the world, which is a sore spot for fans.
Outside of phones, OnePlus also has a limited range of other products. Its first non-smartphone product — aside from cases, chargers, and other accessories — was a set of wired headphones known as OnePlus Bullets. These eventually evolved into wireless headphones known as the OnePlus Bullets Wireless. Finally, this year the company launched its first pair of true wireless headphones — the OnePlus Buds.
Related: OnePlus Buds review: No longer serving the Android community at large
In 2019, OnePlus also launched the OnePlus TV. There have been a few different models released within its TV line already with various sizes and feature configurations. The TVs are all powered by a custom skin of Android TV. However, the televisions are only available in limited areas of the world — mostly India. OnePlus has said the TVs will make their way to more countries — including the US — but that hasn’t come to pass yet.
Finally, OnePlus has also released travel gear, most notably OnePlus-branded backpacks. However, this doesn’t seem to be a major focus for the company and is instead a treat for hardcore fans of the brand.
There are only two categories of smartphones on OnePlus’ roster — its flagship numbered series and the Nord series. Within the flagship series, there are a few subcategories that exist as riffs on the primary phone. The Nord series focuses on the mid-range market and only has one device as of now.
Further reading:
Each Spring, OnePlus launches a new numbered flagship phone. This year, it’s the OnePlus 8 series. In 2021, we fully expect there to be a OnePlus 9 series, and the numbers should continue to go up from there, just like we see with iPhones.
Since these are the flagship phones from OnePlus, they all feature top-of-the-line specs, including the latest 800-series processor from Qualcomm. They usually also get the newest and most innovative features from the brand which strongly align with flagship trends of the year.
Starting in 2019, OnePlus started releasing Pro variants of its numbered series of flagships. As you might have guessed, the Pro variants up the ante on the numbered flagship phones by offering better specs, some new features, and other upgrades. Obviously, these phones are also more expensive than the vanilla flagships.
As an example, this year’s OnePlus 8 doesn’t have wireless charging or an IP68 rating against water and dust. However, the OnePlus 8 Pro has both features.
In 2016, OnePlus released the first “T” phone: the OnePlus 3T. This phone looked exactly like the OnePlus 3 launched earlier that year, but had a few spec upgrades. This started the trend of OnePlus refreshing its flagship phone line in the second half of the year.
Since the 3T, the “T” series has moved to become more than just iterative upgrades. For example, the OnePlus 7T from 2019 looks dramatically different from the OnePlus 7, while also featuring upgraded specs and features. However, OnePlus doesn’t consider these “new” flagships, which is why they don’t get a new number.
For now, the OnePlus 7T and 7T Pro remain the latest available T models.
OnePlus revealed the very first phone in its new Nord line this year. Known simply as the OnePlus Nord, the new phone features a lot of the classic OnePlus flagship design elements and specs, while dialing back a few aspects to keep the price lower.
Theoretically, OnePlus will release more Nord phones in the future. The company could use it as an attempt to grab some of the mid-range market share it abandoned over the years as OnePlus focuses mostly on the premium segment. Unfortunately, the phone is only available in select markets — the US isn’t one of them.
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