When the OnePlus name first appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, the Chinese upstart began teasing us all with drips and drabs of information prior to the launch of the OnePlus One. Fast forward today however, and the OnePlus name is not as unknown as it used to be, with the OnePlus 3 offering users all over the world a great smartphone at a great price – all without having to deal without a pesky invite system. It’s undeniable the company has come a long way, and while the OnePlus 3 is an excellent device, it’s still only available online, from a company that doesn’t have the best track record in customer support. Buying a smartphone online is fine for a lot of customers, but for some, there’s nothing that beats being able to pick up their chosen phone in store as well as walk it back to the same store if something goes wrong with it. For customers in the UK looking to get the OnePlus 3, O2 is about to offer just that sort of experience as they become the exclusive network for the OnePlus 3 across the pond.
The OnePlus 3 will be available from O2 both online and in stores starting September 29th, and customers can choose to pick it up on an O2 refresh contract if they want to. With contracts starting at £28 a month for 500 minutes, unlimited texts and 500MB of data, the OnePlus 3 doesn’t quite seem as cheap as it does outright, but then the £35.50 option with unlimited calls and texts, as well as 3GB of data might sound more appealing. Those prices might seem steep, but these plans all come with zero upfront, which has become something of a rarity in the UK these days, especially for a device that has specs similar to the Galaxy S7 and other flagship devices. Of course, for £329 outright from OnePlus directly, the OnePlus 3 ends up being £13.75 a month spread across 24 months, while networks such as Three UK are more than happy to provide unlimited data from £23 a month. These prices might not be the cheapest, but without having to worry about laying out all that much money at once, O2 will certainly grab a few customers here and there.
Carl Pei, co-founder of OnePlus said that they chose “O2 as our exclusive partner in this important market because they have a history of focusing on the most premium smartphones for the most savvy users, which aligns very well with our products and users”. For O2, on the other hand, it appears that the OnePlus 3 might be their ace when it comes to mid-range smartphones as EE and Vodafone offer their own-brand of devices and Three continues to offer competitive pricing with their range of Honor devices from Huawei.