As we covered earlier today, OnePlus has launched the new Loop app in the Play Store to help those looking to tune in to the virtual reality launch of the OnePlus 3, but they’re not done for the day. In the run-up to the June 14th launch of the OnePlus 3, the company is making an announcement that should not only please diehard OnePlus fans but also those that have always wanted a OnePlus phone, but without the associated drama. That’s because the OnePlus 3 – as well as all “future OnePlus product launches” will be invite-free from the day it launches.
Carl Pei, the company’s co-founder, announced the news on the official OnePlus forum and while he said that the oft-maligned invite system had “a special place in our history” that it was time to leave it behind. When the company first got started the invite system was a deemed as a necessary evil as they had no idea how big demand or the OnePlus 1 was going to be. Now of course, as the company gets ready to launch the OnePlus 3, they’ve become bigger than anyone would have probably imagined once the Chinese upstart started to drip-feed information over the web about the then-upcoming OnePlus 1. We already know quite a bit about the OnePlus 3, including the rumored 6GB of RAM and Snapdragon 820 under-the-hood, as well as what the device is set to look like when it launched come June 14th.
It wouldn’t be a OnePlus product launch however, if there wasn’t something just a little bit different though, would it? Which is why it’ll come as no surprise that, during the first two hours after the launch of the OnePlus 3, the new phone will be available to purchase exclusively in the Loop, the new VR environement that the firm will be using to launch the phone. Right now, it’s unclear when these first orders will start to ship, and whether or not it’s just the 30,000 lucky recipients of a free Loop VR headset that will be able to order the OnePlus 3 right away. Regardless, this is a big announcement for OnePlus and one that will no doubt help switch on a whole new fanbase for the Chinese brand as well as help get the OnePlus 3 off to a great start right after the launch.