Last year, the OnePlus One made waves in the smartphone community by offering a high-end handset for just $299 off-contract. The only downside was just how hard it was to actually buy one, with the phone’s Chinese manufacturer OnePlus choosing to make sales of the One invitation-only. Not any more. To celebrate the first anniversary of the launch of the One, OnePlus is dropping its invite system to let anyone buy the handset. This isn’t a special offer or a limited deal — it’s forever. And yes, we know it’s strange to celebrate a smartphone simply going on sale in the normal fashion, but this isn’t a normal product.
more than 1 million smartphones sold
In a blog post announcing the news, OnePlus claims that the company has now sold more than 1 million handsets. However, they do add that the One’s successor, the OnePlus 2, will revert to the old invitation-only system when it goes on sale. This choice, says OnePlus, is made to minimize their risk when it comes to ordering components and making the handsets, something that subsequently allows for the company’s “razor-thin margins.” Let’s hope we see even more value with the OnePlus 2.
