The OnePlus 5 is the company’s “fastest-selling device ever,” according to OnePlus’s co-founder Carl Pei. Pei took to Twitter less than two hours after the official announcement of the OnePlus 5 and proclaimed that “the first numbers” indicate this is the top-grossing handset in the history of the Shenzhen, Guangdong-based original equipment manufacturer (OEM). The BBK Electronics-owned company has a history of struggling to meet the demand for its products, with its issues on this front previously being so pronounced that the company’s CEO had to specifically reassure consumers that the OnePlus 5 will be “easy to buy,” though it remains to be seen whether the firm manages to deliver on that promise.
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 that’s powering the OnePlus 5 has been in short supply for months now, with its shortages reportedly being directly related to the fact that the LG G6 is powered by the 2016 Snapdragon 821 while the Sony Xperia XZ Premium and a number of other high-end Android phones were late to the market this year. The same issues could also trouble OnePlus in the coming months, some skeptical industry watchers believe, though the OEM itself is seemingly confident that it will be able to keep its latest flagship in stock for the foreseeable future. The fact that the OnePlus 5 is currently selling faster than any of its predecessors also adds more context to the company’s decision to slightly increase the pricing of its new product that now starts at $479 in the United States and €499 ($555) in Europe, as the Chinese phone maker apparently felt comfortable with such a move due to the fact that the demand for its devices is still rising and the initial commercial performance of its new offering proves that.
The OnePlus 5 will officially go on sale on June 27 and is expected to appeal to a wide variety of consumers as an alternative Android flagship that’s essentially just as capable as its competitors while still being priced in a relatively aggressive manner. It remains to be seen whether the firm decides to release a revised version of the device in late 2017 or early 2018 like it did last year with the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T but more details on its endeavors should be available shortly.