The OnePlus 5 will be sold by O2, the British wireless carrier confirmed on Thursday by posting an announcement of the upcoming Android flagship on its official website. The Slough, United Kingdom-based mobile service provider has the device listed as “coming soon,” indicating that consumers in the country may already be able to get their hands on the handset later this month. While the Chinese original equipment manufacturer (OEM) already confirmed that the OnePlus 5 will be officially unveiled on June 20, the BBK Electronics-owned company has yet to reveal when the smartphone is scheduled to hit the market, though the Indian division of Amazon said it should be available from June 22 in the South Asian country. It’s currently unclear whether the device will have a global release or not, but even if it doesn’t, British consumers may be one of the first who’ll be able to purchase it, at least according to O2’s eager announcement.
Recent reports indicated that the OnePlus 5 will be priced at around €550 on the Old Continent, which translates to approximately £477 and is somewhat more expensive to the €439 price tag of the OnePlus 3T that debuted in Europe in late 2016. OnePlus already discontinued its last year’s flagship in an effort to pave the way for the upcoming model in a move that marked a continuation of its aggressive product strategy that saw the company operate with relatively thin profit margins in recent years due to its focus on building a strong brand and penetrating numerous handset markets with products that offer great value for money. However, in light of the fact that the OnePlus 5 will be significantly more expensive than its predecessor, it seems that the Chinese consumer electronics manufacturer is slowly maturing and is now looking to evolve its business model in order to be sustainable in the long term.
The OnePlus 5 is expected to feature a 5.5-inch Full HD display panel and be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 and 8GB of RAM, in addition to sporting at least 64GB of internal flash memory. More details on the device will likely be available shortly as OnePlus is bound to continue teasing its next flagship in the run-up to its official release.