OnePlus’ next smartphone may be available in India during the festive season. While Carl Pei, Co-Founder of OnePlus had earlier confirmed that their next device will release by December (Christmas), latest reports state it could release in India as soon as Diwali.
In an exclusive interview to ET Tech, Vikas Agarwal, General Manager of OnePlus India said, “We're introducing a new device by the end of this year. Diwali would be the ideal time, but next quarter for sure. It would be a global launch, but India will be the biggest focus." He also confirmed that the phone will be more about design and appearance than the specifications.
The move could be an effort to increase the comapny's user-base and attract users who prefer design over specifications. The phone is further expected to be an affordable smartphone, priced in the 12-18k range. This means that the phone will compete with devices like the Moto X Play, Xiaomi Mi 4, and Asus Zenfone Selfie, which makes for some tough competition.
Earlier, leaked renders of the device appeared on the Internet with speculations that it could be named the OnePlus X (Mini). The renders showed that the smartphone will have a dual-camera setup, metal frame, and a circular fingerprint scanner at the back. Additionally, GizmoChina reported that the device would be announced in October with a price tag of $249 (approx. Rs. 16,369). Last week, the AnTuTu benchmark screenshot of a OnePlus device with model number A2301 were leaked. The phone scored 54,311 in the test. It reportedly has MediaTek MT6795T Helio X10 processor clocked at 2.2GHz coupled with 2GB of RAM. It is also tipped to have a 13MP rear camera, while running Android Lollipop v5.1.1 along with 32GB of internal storage.
In an interview with Digit recently, Carl Pei, told us that OnePlus has shifted its focus to smartphones completely. Pei said that while the company had thought of other products earlier, it has scrapped those plans now. According to him, OnePlus wants to focus on smartphones alone so as to get the best phones into the market.