The OnePlus One was one of the hottest devices last year. OnePlus’ flagship had high-end specifications, ran Cyanogen’s software and was really affordable. There was a catch though, you needed to have an invite in order to purchase the device, at least at first. OnePlus eventually removed the invite requirement and let people purchase the device freely. OnePlus has already confirmed that the OnePlus 2 will launch on July 27th, and that the invites are staying put, though the company is changing the invite structure. The company has also confirmed that the phone will sport a Snapdragon 810 (v2.1) SoC, Type-C USB 3.0 port, dual-SIM support, and that the phone won’t cost over $450.
That being said, OnePlus’ CEO, Pete Lau, has recently confirmed that the company is actually working on a second device as well, a device which will launch before the end of this year. The OnePlus (2) Mini has been rumored quite a few times before, and as its name suggests, this is expected to be a lower-end variant of the OnePlus 2. That being said, Pete Lau did not confirm this will be a lower-end OnePlus 2, nor did he say anything about the device at all during the interview. He did, however, mention that additional details will be revealed soon. That leaves a whole lot of room for speculation, doesn’t it now. The mid-range OnePlus device makes sense though, and no matter if it’s called OnePlus (2) Mini or not, it’s quite possible that’s the device Pete Lau was referring to.
Let’s assume that the company’s CEO was talking about OnePlus 2 Mini, OnePlus Mini or whatever they decide to call it in the end. This handset will be more affordable than the OnePlus 2, which means that it would be priced well below the $450 mark. We really don’t have that much info about OnePlus’s lower-end offering, aside from various rumors that it exists. Well, this handset will almost certainly ship with Android 5.1 Lollipop on board, and OnePlus’ Oxygen OS installed on top of it. The device will sport either 2 or 3GB of RAM, and one of Qualcomm’s SoCs will probably fuel it, it remains to be seen which one. The OnePlus 2 is said to sport a 13-megapixel (f/2.0 aperture) snapper, and it’s quite probably that the lower-end handset will also ship with that sensor. The full HD 1080p (1920 x 1080) display might also be included in this package, and that’s basically it.
So, is a lower-end OnePlus device makes sense? Well, yes, it does. If OnePlus can offer us a premium device and price it below $450, imagine what they can do with a really powerful mid-ranger. If the company managed to produce a compelling device in terms of specifications and design, and put an affordable price tag on it, that would be really interesting. OnePlus is a Chinese smartphone OEM, and affordable devices do great in both China and India, and the company will almost certainly offer that device to users all over the world through their official website. It will certainly be interesting to see what the OnePlus Mini / OnePlus 2 Mini will look like once the company announces it, but keep in mind that probably won’t happen too soon. July 27th is reserved for OnePlus 2, and its sibling will arrive later this year.