Chinese phone maker OnePlus is considering making a successor to the OnePlus X, its only mid-range Android smartphone to date released in late 2015, according to an unverified rumor shared by TechPP. Should the smartphone be greenlit, it would primarily be targeted at India and be priced at between Rs. 15,000 ($233) and Rs. 17,000 ($264), the source claims, suggesting that the OnePlus X2 or however the device may end up being called should debut with a price tag similar to the one attached to its predecessor which retailed for $249. It’s presently unclear whether the handset would launch before or after the OnePlus 6 that’s expected to be unveiled in May but a simultaneous debut seems unlikely as it would be unprecedented for the four-year-old company which so far managed its announcements one product at a time.
The rumored device would likely be equipped with specifications that largely correspond to those of last year’s flagships, much like the OnePlus X, with the report claiming that the handset would be powered by the Snapdragon 835. OnePlus supposedly still has a sizeable stock of Qualcomm’s 2017 flagship chip and is hence more likely to commercialize a Snapdragon 835-fueled product in the coming months. The OnePlus X2 may also feature 4GB of RAM, with its base model sporting 32GB of internal flash memory. A more premium version of the handset will reportedly boast 64GB of storage space, with the overall design of the device being reminiscent of the OnePlus 5, according to the source. A 5.5-inch AMOLED screen with a 16:9 aspect ratio is hence said to be part of the package, also because the company already owns these modules that were ordered for the OnePlus 5 but went unused so far, according to the report.
Following the global success of the firm’s last several Android flagships, the possibility that OnePlus invests in another mid-range experiment remains somewhat dubious, especially as the company is already operating at relatively thin profit margins with its high-end products that would erode even further in the even more competitive lower price brackets. While a large stock of unused components would increase the OEMs willingness to commercialize such a product, such a decision is far from guaranteed as OnePlus should be able to offload its remaining Snapdragon 835 chips with relative ease if it chose to do so.