OnePlus 3 is OnePlus’ upcoming third-generation flagship smartphone. The company has introduced three smartphones thus far, the first and second-gen flagship, and the OnePlus X mid-range which arrived last year. That being said, a number of OnePlus 3 leaks and rumors surfaced in the last couple of weeks, including a number of alleged OnePlus 3 images. The latest image that surfaced was a render which shown off the alleged OnePlus 3 smartphone. Based on that image, the OnePlus 3 will resemble the HTC One M9 when it comes to the device’s back, and the front side of the phone actually resembles the OnePlus 2 and a number of Meizu-branded handsets. The OnePlus 3 will be made out of metal, and based on what we’ve seen thus far, the front-facing fingerprint scanner will be back, though we still don’t know if that is a touchpad or a physical button.
OnePlus’ CEO, Peter Lau, said recently that the OnePlus 3 feels great in the hand, and by doing that he basically kicked off a series of OnePlus 3 teasers we can expect in the coming weeks. Well, a new OnePlus 3-related rumor surfaced in China quite recently. As most of you know, OnePlus’ past flagships were not all that easy to purchase soon after their release, mostly because OnePlus uses the so-called ‘invitation system’. You basically need an invitation in order to buy the product, which makes it easier for the company to control sales, and that was necessary mostly because the company was not able to meet the demand so quickly (production capacity). OnePlus tends to remove the invite-only policy months after the device gets released, and based on the newest rumor from China, the invite-only policy might not be in use this year. About four months ago, Carl Pei, OnePlus’ CEO, said that the buyers will be treated to a ‘better buying process’. Many of us instantly assumed that this means the invite-only policy will be gone in 2016, and based on his recently Twitter post, that might be true. Mr. Pei posted the following sentence to Twitter recently: ‘Who’s looking forward to invites making a comeback?”. This is a rhetorical question considering nobody wants that, and this might be Carl Pei’s way of teasing the no invite policy this time around.
That is more or less it, all that remains now, is to wait for OnePlus to unveil their new flagship, and see what we’re dealing with this time around. Chances are we won’t be seeing the invite-only policy this year, but let’s wait and see what happens, the phone will probably arrive in the next month or two.