OnePlus Promises to Go Back Out to Its Roots with Cheap Smartphones

OnePlus is out to create huge developments in its product line.

Unlike Oppo and Xiaomi, OnePlus has become conservative with its range of products and smartwatches.

However, in an interview with Fast Company, OnePlus CEO Peta Lau talked about his plans for the company. Also, he shared on Weibo why they are now ready to add "new members" to the family.

As a new phone company, OnePlus focused on a few main products. However, Lau believes that OnePlus already gained much experience, manpower, and technology to develop new products. Lau has announced in India that new ventures will be seen in months to come, then spread further into other markets.

Lau Promises to Go Back Out to Its Roots

For the longest time, the company's budget smartphone, OnePlus Z, is rumored to launch in July. This will be its first offering with its goal to sell more cheap phones that will "remain up to the OnePlus standard."The company ultimately aims to create a society connected by devices.

OnePlus' road to fame began six years ago with its incredible flagship designs at a surprisingly low price of $300, which is half the price of iPhones at the time. Since then, it slowly moved to the premium space with its latest product OnePlus 8 Pro, which almost reached the $1,000 tag to keep up with the trend. However, some of its original fans were frustrated with the lack of pocket-friendly options.

Thus, OnePlus Z offers a chance for the company to redeem the mid-range price from its contemporaries.

"We indeed have come from background and roots as a hardware company, but from what we see looking forward, building an ecosystem is a forward trend," the CEO said.

Meanwhile, OnePlus had also moved beyond smartphones after five years got a taste of this last year when it launched OnePlus TV last year. It can be paired with a smartphone to access many additional features. TWS earphones are also on the pipeline in the future.

Lau admits OnePlus' owner

For the first time, OnePlus has publicly admitted who owns the company, which has been puzzling in the past. One of the rumors suggests that it is a subsidiary Oppo and controlled by BBK Electronics, which OnePlus disputed. The company said it had no affiliation with BBK because it is supported by a private investor called Oplus, which is also an investor of Oppo and Realme.

Meanwhile, Oppo is also OnePlus' important partner as it shares a lot of its core tech, production lines, and suppliers. However, the company has pooled resources to produce a better range of products. "OnePlus remains an independent company, but what this means is there's a larger base of users across this group for potential access to building out a wider ecosystem," Lau said. However, it is unclear whether the two companies share a common or cross-compatible software platform.

This development does not come as a surprise as both companies share the same goals, and it is not the first companies to do this and certainly will not be the last.