OnePlus announced Wednesday that it will launch its OnePlus 3 flagship phone on June 14, and it will change things up a bit this time by not making invitations mandatory.
The invitation-based system has a been a major feature in OnePlus' previous phone launches, as potential buyers were previously required to get a special code before they could buy a device. This move had several benefits for OnePlus, including letting the company control how many codes were released and avoid wasting money on unsold phones, as well as boost anticipation among Android fans, who sometimes had to compete in order to buy a phone.
However, OnePlus now believes that signing up for a reservation or trying to get an invite through some form of social media lottery has been an inconvenience, with co-founder Carl Pei saying that the invite-based system was the only way the company was going to stay in business.
"When we started this company, we had no idea how many people would want to buy our products," he said. "We didn't want to risk a situation where people would come to our website and find out we had no stock and no ETA on when we would get it. For us it's more important to grow sustainably rather than fast, so we'd rather err on the side of caution."
Pei added that it's difficult for fans to keep accepting that OnePlus is a young company and still has trouble with its supply chain after three years.
"It's about time that we stopped giving ourselves excuses," he said, adding that OnePlus will not use invitations for its phone launches in the future.
The OnePlus 3 will be the company's third generation of its marque device, and Pei said the much-anticipated phone will sport a "new design" and look different than previous versions.
While not much is known about the price of the new phone, it is expected to cost around $330, which is about the same as the OnePlus 2 that debuted last year.
OnePlus' announcement also follows a little more than a week after it said in a blog post that orders for the OnePlus 3 will start in its VR store, more specifically its virtual space station. Buyers who don't use the company's Loop VR headset will have to wait an additional 45 minutes to get the phone in OnePlus' web store.
