OnePlus Technology Co., Ltd. is a Chinese consumer electronics manufacturer headquartered in the Tairan Building in Cheong Temple sub-district of Futian District in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. It was founded in December 2013 by Pete Lau and Carl Pei. It is currently the sole shareholder with Oppo, a subsidiary of BBK Electronics and Vivo, Realme, and iQOO. The company is best known for manufacturing smartphones and officially serves 34 countries and territories around the world as of July 2018.
History
OnePlus was founded on 16 December 2013 by Pete Lau and Carl Pei, former vice presidents of Oppo. According to Chinese public records, the sole institutional shareholder of OnePlus is Oppo Electronics. Lau denied that OnePlus was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oppo and said that Oppo Electronics and Oppo Mobiles (the phone maker) are not major investors in OnePlus and that they are "in talks with other investors", although OnePlus did not agree to it. It has been confirmed that it is part of Oppo's manufacturing line and supply chain resources with Oppo. The company's main goal was to design a smartphone that could balance high-end quality with a lower price tag than other phones in its category, believing that users would "Never Settle". Lau explained that "we will never be too different to be different. All that is done is to improve the actual user experience in day-to-day use." They also showcased their aspirations to be the "Muji of the Tech Industry", emphasizing their focus on high-quality products with simple, user-friendly designs. Oppo N1 Continuing Lau's association with the OnePlus platform OnePlus entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with Cyanogen Inc. to base the Android distribution of its products on a version of the popular custom ROM CyanogenMod and its products outside China.
The company unveiled its first device, the OnePlus One, on 23 April 2014, to capture the market from the Google Nexus series. In December 2014, with the release of the OnePlus One in India exclusively through Amazon, OnePlus also announced plans to establish a presence in the country, with plans to open 25 official walk-in service centers across India.
In April 2014, OnePlus hired Han Han to help market its products in mainland China.
On 9 March 2014, the company expanded its operations to the European Union.
On 16 December 2014, the Supreme Court of India and the Delhi High Court banned the import and sale of OnePlus One phones after a lawsuit by Micromax alleging that specifications for shipping phones with Cyanogen OS software in India. The ban was lifted on 21 December 2014. The device continues to be shipped with Cyanogen OS; However, a customized version of Android specially designed by OnePlus and called OxygenOS has been released, allowing later OnePlus devices to be sold in India.
OnePlus made its products available in Southeast Asia for the first time, partnering with Lazada Indonesia on 23 January 2015, and was expected to expand throughout the region during that year. In June 2016, OnePlus decided to exit the Indonesian market due to local regulations for imported 4G smartphones restricting sales of the OnePlus 2.
At the OnePlus 6 launch event on 17 May 2018, OnePlus announced that it would be opening five new OnePlus Experience Stores as well as 10 new service centers in India.
According to market research firm Counterpoint Research, OnePlus topped the Indian premium smartphone market with 33 percent share last year, beating Samsung Electronics with 26 percent. In the IDC survey, OnePlus ranks third in the Indian market after Apple and Samsung Electronics with over $500 in the first quarter of this year. And it is second only to China's Vivo in the $300-500 market.
Carl Pei resigned as the director of OnePlus on 16 October 2020.
In 2021, Oppo and OnePlus combined their hardware research teams via OPlus.
Advertising and Marketing
Invitation System
Early phones were only available through a system whereby customers had to sign up for an invite, which OnePlus called an invitation to buy phones at irregular intervals. This system was claimed to be essential for the young company to manage the huge demand. OnePlus ended the invite system with the launch of the OnePlus 3 on 14 June 2016. Announced through an interactive VR launch event, the OnePlus 3 initially went on sale within the VR app itself. OnePlus described the event as the world's first VR shopping experience. The phone was made available for sale later that day on the OnePlus website in China, North America, and the European Union, and on Amazon India in India.
"Smash the Past"
On 23 April 2014, OnePlus launched its "Smash the Past" campaign. The promotion asked selected participants to destroy their phones on the video to buy the OnePlus One for $1 (US). Due to confusion, several videos were published by unselected users misinterpreting the promotion and destroying their phones before the date of the promotion's start. OnePlus later amended its promotion rules by allowing consumers to donate their old phones. The competition had 140,000 participants with 100 winners.
One Plus Playback
OnePlus Playback is a series of music videos in collaboration with popular Indian singers starting in 2018.
Trademark Ambassador
In May 2019, OnePlus struck a deal with 'Avengers' actor Robert Downey Jr. to support the OnePlus 7 Pro. Before him, it was Indian actor Amitabh Bachchan who supported OnePlus in India.
Partnership with Hasselblad
On 8 March 2021, OnePlus announced a $150 million deal with Hasselblad to develop camera technology for OnePlus, including the new OnePlus 9 series of phones, including improved cameras made in partnership with Hasselblad.
Controversy and Criticism
The "Ladies First" Controversy
On 13 August 2014, OnePlus hosted a contest to invite its female forum members, which was hard to come by at the time. Users were asked to post a picture of themselves with the OnePlus logo, the images would be shared in forums and could be "liked" by other forum members. It received a huge response for being offensive and humiliating women, resulting in the contest being pulled within hours.
Customer Support Criticism
OnePlus' customer support was once the subject of severe criticism. In 2017, the company increased the number of customer service staff and established customer service and repair centers in Asia, Europe, and the United States, significantly improving turnaround times for repairs and other issues.
OnePlus USB-C Cable
After weeks of customer complaints on OnePlus forums and Reddit, Google engineer Benson Leung showed that the USB-C cable and USB-C-to-Micro-USB adapter offered by OnePlus at the time did not conform to the USB specification. OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei admitted on 26 November 2015 that the cable and adapter did not conform to the USB specification, and offered a refund (though not for the cable bundled with the OnePlus 2 phone).
App Performance Throttling
In July 2021, the company was accused and then admitted to throttling the app's performance. The throttling was revealed by Andrei Frumusanu at AnandTech when he found that the OnePlus 9 significantly degrades Chrome's performance.
Motive of one plus to provide top notch specs at an affordable price has somewhat left behind with the new launches after OnePlus six! Still a leading brand if it's segment.