OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei says that the OnePlus 3 will go official at the end of the second quarter – June, in other words – in an interview with CNET en Español.
To put things into perspective, the smartphone maker rolled out the OnePlus One in June 2014 and the OnePlus 2 in August 2015. That means it won't take an entire year for the OnePlus 3 to launch since the second-generation became available on the market.
According to Pei, the upcoming smartphone will sport a "new design," suggesting that it'll look completely different compared with its predecessor. He also notes how he hopes that the OnePlus 3 will "captivate" the consumers just like how the OnePlus One did.
Even though the OnePlus 2 did better in terms of market sales, he still considers the OnePlus One as the more dazzling phone between the two, and he wants to recreate the feeling it gave off again.
"The U.S. will be very important for us this year," Pei tells CNET (CNET en Español).
One big piece of news to take away from the discussion is that OnePlus will now employ "traditional marketing" strategies. It should also be pointed out that Pei says that the company will have a "better buying process," but he didn't elaborate the specifics of that statement, especially whether the company will continue with the tedious invitation-only system or not.
The OnePlus 3 will land on U.S. shores and elsewhere as an unlocked device, and the company will be selling it directly. Regarding the price tag, Pei did not give out any detail, but there's a possibility that it'll be around $350 like the OnePlus 2, which saw a permanent price drop recently.
A quick word about the hardware specifications. It's expected to house a Snapdragon 820 and a 4 GB of RAM and 16 GB of internal storage or 5 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage. It's also believed to sport a 5.5-inch 1080p display.
The devices included in the OnePlus lineup are touted as flagship killers, but they didn't really live up to that. It's worth noting that they did have the potential to kick some fannies and take names when they were released, if it weren't for the company's invitation-based marketing.
At any rate, the OnePlus 3 will hit the shelves in June, and there's more or less a chance that everyone can get their hands on it without an invitation – or at least, an easier way than that.
Photo: Maurizio Pesce | Flickr
