OnePlus One sold over 1.5 million units in its first year

OnePlus doesn’t often talk about sales numbers, but the company’s cofounder Carl Pei was happy enough to share some in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. The big takeaway is that the OnePlus One sold 1.5 million units within its first year, with 1 million of those coming within the first 6 months.

Of course, that doesn’t sound as gaudy and cool as some of the big guys who reach for 10 million units within a few months’ time, but OnePlus is still a very new company, and the small capital they had to work with — plus the lack of brand awareness and a meager marketing budget — certainly excuses them for not being able to reach those numbers.

In fact, it’s surprising that they were even able to hit 1 million units at all, especially with the pitfalls that came with the invitation system and the controversy surrounding their marketing tactics and the Cyanogen Mod breakup. OnePlus had quite a few chips stacked against them, and yet they’re about to hit the ground running with their second smartphone release which they anticipate will outpace the OnePlus One by a crap ton.

You can read the interview with Pei for yourself if you’re more interested in the man himself and how he came to realize his dream in Shenzhen.