Hong Kong-based smartphone vendor OnePlus will sell its much talked-about USB-C cable to anyone interested, for “about $5”, according to the company’s CEO, Mr. Carl Pei. Stocks for the same will start arriving by end-August or early-September, according to Mr. Pei. Although he claimed the $5 price-tag is less than the cost of its manufacturing, it would be in the company’s interest to have USB-C cables widely available, seeing as the technology is still a fledgling one, although it is said to be the technology of the future. OnePlus’ latest smartphone, the OnePlus 2, is but one of the devices to sport the new USB-C port, alongside other new devices like the Chromebook Pixel or the 2015 MacBook, both of which feature USB-C ports for connectivity, in lieu of USB 3.0 ports.
Coming to the cable itself, it has been designed in-house by OnePlus, and follows a similar design principle as the Micro USB cable that came bundled with the OnePlus One. The cable comes with a flat, tangle-free design, and features thick shielding for increased longevity, along with a silicone tie for hassle-free cable management. However, the single most interesting feature of the new cable lies in its USB-A end. For the uninitiated, the USB-A male connector is the end which is attached to the USB ports on a PC or a charging adapter. That particular end on the USB-C cable from OnePlus happens to be reversible. OnePlus has already applied for a patent for this unique feature, which in essence, turns the humble cable into a smart one, via a small chip inserted into the cable, which allows it to be plugged in both ways, without changing the connectors at either end.
Coming to OnePlus, the company already sells its Micro USB cable for $9.99 on its website, alongside a number of other accessories including power banks, charging adapters, OTG cables and earphones etc. The company recently introduced its second generation flagship smartphone, dubbed the OnePlus 2, which features a 5.5-inch 1080p display, and is powered by the Qualcomm MSM8994 Snapdragon 810 SoC (v2.1). The device comes in two different variants – one with 4 GB RAM and 64 GB storage and another with 3 GB RAM and 16 GB storage. While the first variant will come with a $329 price-tag in the US, the more premium version will cost $389. The device comes with dual SIM, dual standby, and runs on a 3,300 mAh battery. The OnePlus 2 features a fingerprint sensor which can carry up to five different profiles. The phone also features a 13-megapixel primary camera on the rear and a 5-megapixel selfie-cam on the front.