What happened to OnePlus
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I remember back in high school, one of my friends got an invite to purchase the OnePlus One. Suddenly, it was like he was the most popular guy in school, being sought after with everyone asking him to share his invites with them because they all wanted the phone.
I was one of those guys. The OnePlus One was an amazing deal at the time, and for the first time in a long time, it felt like there was something new and refreshing in the smartphone market. They were the first ones to really claim the name and the idea for budget phones that were still plenty powerful. You were getting a large display, amazing battery life, a clean version of Android all for less than $400 unlocked. And, with the exclusivity feeling, they were booming with everyone wanting an invite.
When the OnePlus 5T came out, they had removed the exclusivity thing, but their phones were still amazing bang-for-buck and I bought it. It was so nice to know that I had a phone, which in many ways was better than some of the latest flagship phones, including iPhone, but I paid a fraction of the cost.
Fast-forward to today, it seems as though OnePlus is now just like any other company. They make really nice phones with awesome cameras, beautiful displays, fast performance, amazing battery, but at the flagship phone prices. They were no longer making budget phones, and gone was the exclusivity of an invite.What’s to stop people from buying an iPhone, or a Samsung, a device from a much more reputable and longer lasting company?
By no means am I saying that OnePlus is an unsuccessful company and that their products are not good, but they have lost their magic.
The amazing thing about OnePlus when they first launched was the excitement that they have created. Personally, I would only get that excited for Apple Products in the past, so having that hype that they were able to build, that demand and exclusivity factor, its what made them special and boom in the tech community. Now, they are just another company. And because they are just another company, they are much harder to reach. You can only buy OnePlus Online, so they are not even easily available.
Somehow, they went from a Budget-Premium company to just another company that makes phones, and ones that are not very accessible. Frankly, I am disappointed since I believe they had a real opportunity to stand out from the competition, but they ultimately ended becoming identical to their competiton.
