OnePlus
OnePlus Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. (Chinese: 一加科技; pinyin: Yījiā Kējì), doing business as OnePlus, is a Chinese consumer electronics manufacturer headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.[6] It is a subsidiary of Oppo.
"1+" redirects here. Not to be confused with +1.
Native name
一加科技
16 December 2013
Worldwide
- Pete Lau (Co-founder & CEO)
2,700+ (2019)
深圳市万普拉斯科技有限公司
深圳市萬普拉斯科技有限公司
Shēnzhèn shì Wànpǔlāsī Kējì Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī
Shēnzhèn shì Wànpǔlāsī Kējì Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī
Sāmjan síh Maahnpóulāaisī Fōgeih Yáuhhahn Gūngsī
Sam1zan3 si5 Maan6pou2laai1si1 Fo1gei6 Jau5haan6 Gung1si1
一加
OnePlus
Yījiā
Yījiā
Yātgā
Jat1gaa1
OnePlus was founded by Pete Lau and Carl Pei on 16 December 2013 to develop a high-end flagship smartphone running Cyanogen OS that would come to be known as the OnePlus One. OnePlus would continue to release smartphones afterwards. In 2020, OnePlus released the OnePlus Nord, its first mid-range smartphone since the OnePlus X in 2015. Pei would oversee the design and marketing of OnePlus' products until his departure from the company in October 2020, going on to found the consumer electronics manufacturer Nothing.
History[edit]
2013–2014: Founding and OnePlus One[edit]
OnePlus Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. was founded on 16 December 2013 by former Oppo vice-president Pete Lau and Carl Pei.[7] According to Chinese public records, OnePlus' only institutional Investor is Oppo Electronics.[4] Lau denied that OnePlus was a Subsidiary of Oppo and stated that Oppo Electronics and not Oppo Mobile (the phone manufacturer) is a major investor of OnePlus. Lau went on to state that they were "in talks with other investors",[8] although OnePlus has confirmed it uses Oppo's manufacturing line and shares part of the supply chain resources with Oppo.[9]
Advertising and marketing[edit]
Invitation system[edit]
Early phones were only available through a system whereby customers had to sign up for an invitation, which OnePlus called an invite, to purchase the phone at irregular intervals. The system was claimed to be necessary for the young company to manage huge demand.[26] OnePlus ended the invitation system with the launch of OnePlus 3 on 14 June 2016.[27] Announced via an interactive VR launch event, the OnePlus 3 initially went on sale within the VR app itself. OnePlus touted the event as the world's first VR shopping experience.[28] The phone was made available for sale later that day in China, North America and the European Union on the OnePlus website, and in India on Amazon India.[15]
"Smash the Past"[edit]
On 23 April 2014, OnePlus began its "Smash the Past" campaign.[29] The promotion asked selected participants to destroy their phones on video to purchase 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 promotion start date.[30][31] OnePlus later revised the rules of its promotion by allowing consumers to donate their old phones.[32] There were 140,000 entrants in the contest with 100 winners.[32]
OnePlus Playback[edit]
OnePlus Playback is a series of music videos in collaboration with popular Indian singers, beginning in 2018.[33][34]
Brand ambassador[edit]
In May 2019, OnePlus made a deal with Avengers actor Robert Downey Jr. to endorse the OnePlus 7 Pro. Previously, Indian actor Amitabh Bachchan endorsed OnePlus in India.[35]
Criticism and controversies[edit]
"Ladies First" controversy[edit]
For the launch of the OnePlus One in 2014, OnePlus hosted a contest to give invites—which were hard to come by at the time—to their female forum members. Users were asked to post a photo of themselves with the OnePlus logo; images would be shared in the forum and could be "liked" by other forum members. This received major backlash for objectifying and degrading women, resulting in the contest being pulled within hours.[38]
Micromax antitrust lawsuit[edit]
On 16 December 2014, the Supreme Court of India and the Delhi High Court banned the import and sale of OnePlus One phones following a lawsuit by Micromax Informatics alleging it had exclusivity for shipping phones with Cyanogen OS software in India.[39] On 21 December 2014, the ban was lifted, and the device continued to be shipped with Cyanogen OS. The following year a customized version of Android, specially designed by OnePlus and named OxygenOS was released, allowing later OnePlus devices to be sold in India.[40][41]
OnePlus USB-C cable incident[edit]
Throughout 2015, OnePlus received criticism for its manufacturing of its USB-C cables. After several weeks of customer complaints on OnePlus forums and on Reddit, Google engineer Benson Leung showed that the USB-C cable and USB-C to Micro-USB adapter offered by OnePlus at that time did not conform to the USB specification. OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei later admitted that the cable and adapter did not conform to the USB specification, and offered refunds (although not for cables bundled with the OnePlus 2 phone).[42][43][44]
Customer support[edit]
OnePlus' customer support has been the subject of criticism. In 2017, the company increased the number of customer service staff and set up customer service and repair centers in Asia, Europe, and the United States, greatly improving turnaround times for repairs and other issues.[45]
App performance throttling[edit]
In July 2021, the company was accused of and then admitted to throttling app performance. The throttling was uncovered by an investigation done by AnandTech, discovering that the OnePlus 9 significantly diminished the performance of Chrome in an effort to "improve battery life".[46][47]
