OnePlus has done a remarkable job at the predecessors, OnePlus One, OnePlus 2 and OnePlus x. However, the Co-Founder has confirmed that the flagship for 2016, the OnePlus 3, will be unveiled this June along with significant changes to the design, which won’t look like the older siblings.
Adding to the confirmation, he has stated that OnePlus will ‘offer a better buying process’, and has not spoken on the invite system.
At present, the founder of OnePlus Pete Lau is in India and has spoken about the flagship OnePlus 3. He has confirmed the launch of the device in Q2, but also has mentioned that the price will be slightly higher than the prior devices.
“When we make a product, we don't determine the prices like other companies. They have a budget and a price point they want to hedge. What we do is, when we develop a product, we look at the cost and say, OK, this is the price we should sell it for. For phasing out existing products, there is no specific date. It all depends on the demand. If there isn't any demand for the product, we will phase it out," said Lau.
Mentioning about Make in India Pete Lau expressed that, "Make in India is definitely the direction we will take. Right now, we have partnership with Foxconn (Technology Group) and, in the future, we will also look at partnerships with other manufacturers. The long-term road is definitely going to be Make in India. By December 2017, over 90% of the phones that we sell in India will be manufactured in India."
Regarding the local expansion plans, Pete says "Expansion is something we are considering this year. We have already hired some Indian engineers and product people. So, it won't be too long before we have a local engineering team. Generally, a good product will be recognized by people in India as well as North America. However, when you go deeper into more details, user habits change between different regions. In that respect, localization becomes important, especially in the software layer"
