The OnePlus 3 is one of the most-watched smartphones that’s next on the lineup for 2016, with the company announcing it this month in a matter of days. With that said, we’ve been wondering whether or not the company would give us any major announcements about it. We’ve seen the specs, which are okay for the handset but not spectacular or rivaling the best Android smartphones we’v seen and have in our possession, but, then and again, the Chinese manufacturer has always been one known for its competitive price points (not its cutting-edge specs). That doesn’t mean that OnePlus doesn’t want that high-end flagship recognition, but its missteps in the past with its “2016 flagship killer” prevented the company from focusing on major areas of improvement — such as the company’s invite system.
Well, after two years of an invite system that was more annoying than fruitful, OnePlus has decided that its OnePlus 3 smartphone won’t endure the scrutiny and the shame. According to a company blog post yesterday, the Chinese manufacturer will not set up an invite system this time; interested buyers can get the OnePlus 3, invite-free:
“We’re releasing the OnePlus 3 invite-free, right from launch day. In addition, invites are gone forever from future OnePlus product launches…with the OnePlus 3, we’re officially saying goodbye to invites. It’s a big step for us as a company, our fans, and fellow tech enthusiasts…we’re proud to have reached a point where we feel confident in making our new device available without invites from day one,” the company said.
In addition to the invite-free announcement for the upcoming device (which is a pretty big deal for the company and its products), the company also spilled the beans that had been leaked earlier by the OnePlus representative: the OnePlus 3 will be announced on June 14th, with sales to follow (the first two hours of sales will be for Loop VR buyers only with the time after that open to OnePlus.net buyers at 3PM EST).
While OnePlus says it has reached a place where it can sell the new device invite-free, I think their decision to do this has more to do with sales and the desire to make as much money as possible, rather than the company being at a place where it can produce without invites. What OnePlus has figured out is that the invite system will take sales away if the company doesn’t have a change of course.
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