Handsets

OnePlus One smartphone will be under $400

22

One of the first things you can do when you launch your first smartphone is to price yourself out of the market, and OnePlus knows they can’t make that mistake. That’s why Pete Lau and his company were proud to announce that their device would come in at under $400. The announcement was rather suggestive, with OnePlus poking fun at other companies who tout numbers like “under $500” when they really tend to mean “one cent less than $500.”

So what does “definitely under $400” mean? Well, it could mean $399.99, though OnePlus isn’t interested in setting a hard price point at this time. We imagine they’ll look to target that sweet $350 price point that Google has launched the Nexus 5 at, which — at the least — would definitely make many smartphone buyers stand up and take notice.

Other factors sure to make folks take notice is the fact that the phone is being built from the ground up not only for CyanogenMod, but by CyanogenMod. If you don’t remember, CyanogenMod and OnePlus teamed up to craft their vision of what the perfect phone would be. We’re still not entirely sure what that vision entails, but we should be hearing more soon — the OnePlus One is due out in the second quarter of this year.

pete lau oneplus one price

[via Google+, Facebook]

Quentyn Kennemer
The "Google Phone" sounded too awesome to pass up, so I bought a G1. The rest is history. And yes, I know my name isn't Wilson.

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22 Comments

  1. Hmm the perfect phone for a cheap price. I don’t see it happening, you’ve gotta skimp out on something you would think

    1. I know that saying that Google did this with the Nexus 4/5 is moot because they can afford to not make as much money on it, but look at manufacturers like Blu and Motorola (Moto G). They’re selling decent phones for a fairly low price point. If they can do it, I’m sure others can as well.

      1. i sure am hoping so. as long as the phone is capable and can survive at least a year or more with OS updates (i dont think CyanogenMod will have a problem here. They have supported phones long after they have been dropped by carriers and the manufacturers. This is there strong point to me) im looking forward to seeing what this hardware looks like. wasnt a fan of that rotating camera on the oppo so hoping they leave that out.

      2. the moto x spec wise is comparable to the S3.

        i think they can imitate what google did with the fact that they are a no name company that needs to break into the market. google showed us that top of the line specs can be delivered at a low price point regardless of the reasons and this is what oneplus needs to do to compete.

      3. There are specs and quality. The quality of Moto’s specs were not all that great to me. Not the camera. You hear 10mp. Assuming that would be nice. It was horrible.

      4. Oh I won’t deny that. I just think saying the word ” perfect ” and ” under $400 ” just don’t go hand and hand ya know? Plus for it being their first phone that’s setting the bar really high for themselves.

    2. IPhone 5s cost $199 to build. So if there is skimping I’m not sure at what price point it starts.

  2. Since it’ll be running CyanogenMod, I sure hope they get bluetooth to work properly before releasing it!

    1. i’m confident bluetooth will work seeing as it will be a stock build from the ground up and not a ROM hack thrown over a stock build with workarounds to get things operational.

    2. This isn’t some ported ROM on custom hardware. It’ll be their actual version of Android like any other company.

      1. That doesn’t mean Bluetooth issues won’t exist. It wouldn’t be a CM rom without bluetooth issues!

        1. Is that a thing? I can’t remember the last time I’ve had a problem with ANY Cyanogenmod rom. Even nightlies.

  3. now i REALLY want this phone!!

    this may not have the absolute best specs but being a person who doesnt have a problem running anything on my SG3 from 2 years ago the whole specs thing is overrated anyway.

    if what they did with the oppo N1 is any indication of the creativity that will be brought to this device i’ll be expecting some very interesting features and software.

    1. Have had my S3 for about 18 months now. Still really enjoy it but I have to admit I’ve developed a desire for something new since reading about the LG G Pro 2, Xperia Z2 and the new HTC One. I don’t have any money to spare, though, so I’ll keep running CM and Nova until I can’t use this phone any more or until I have a bit of money saved up.

  4. Im listening!!!

  5. So far its all talk. Will wait till the product comes out.

    Somehow this reminds me of Xiaomi and their MIUI.
    What if they launch with a sold out in 8 minutes flash online sale?
    Without disclosing how much is sold.

  6. fingers crossed, but i’m not holding my breath.

  7. Well they got my attention now. I’ll be keeping an eye on it.

  8. I’m listening too, and I wonder if it’ll be locked down like Sammy. My N2 has going thru hell with Sammy and Verizon trying to defeat any effort to unlock it. I’m done playing those games. It’s MY phone, let me decide to unlock it. I hope this company will side with their customers.

    1. American carriers are kinda nuts.

    2. But you’re not the one you built the phone. Yea, it’s your phone and you can unlock it, but that doesn’t mean OEM’s can’t lock the phone to begin with.

    3. this phone will more than likely be similar to the oppo N1 and the nexus line where it will be sold unlocked direct from the company.

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