OnePlus on Tuesday announced a permanent price cut on its flagship OnePlus 2 smartphone in India, following a similar move in international markets last month. Both the 16GB and 64GB variants of the OnePlus 2 smartphone are now available on Amazon India for Rs 20,999 and Rs 22,999, respectively, which is Rs 2,000 lower than the original price.
"Why have the price drop? Let's just say that thanks to both timing and scale, our operations have sized up sufficiently propelling us to offer our flagship offering as an even better proposition for your connectivity needs," OnePlus said in a statement.
The new prices are already in effect and the Chinese premium smartphone maker assured "no gimmicks and this ain't an April Fool's Day prank." However, the company has cut the prices at a time when it is nearing the launch of its next flagship – OnePlus 3 smartphone.
OnePlus CEO Pete Lau spoke about the upcoming flagship last month and confirmed the launch for the second quarter of 2016. OnePlus sees India as one of the primary markets and plans to produce 90 percent of its phones locally by next year. The company's co-founder Carl Pei said the OnePlus 3, as it is being called, would have a "new design" with an element of charm that OnePlus One brought to its buyers.
When we reviewed OnePlus 2 in August last year, we found it to be a great package of looks and performance at a reasonable price. But the handset did not strike as a must-have for the owners of the first edition of OnePlus smartphone. Considering some new changes are on board with the OnePlus 3, there are going to be a lot of takers.
OnePlus is keeping a lid on its 2016 flagship device and there is limited knowledge about the unreleased handset out in the open. Except for a few concept images and vague speculations about its specs, there isn't much to go by. From what we know so far, the OnePlus 3 may feature the same 5.5-inch Full HD display and a 4GB RAM. It is expected to use Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 820 processor, Android Marshmallow OS and a 20-megapixel primary camera.
Even so, the OnePlus 2 at its new price is a great choice for premium smartphone shoppers who are not willing to spend a fortune. The handset offers great features like a 5.5-inch Full HD display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor, 4GB RAM, 64GB storage, 13MP primary camera with dual LED flash, laser AF, OIS and a 5MP front snapper. It is powered by a 3,300mAh battery and Android Lollipop based Oxygen OS. It has a USB Type-C port as well as a fingerprint scanner.
OnePlus launched the 16GB variant in India in January for Rs 22,999, several months after the 64GB model was released in the country. The difference of Rs 2,000 between two storage models also compromises on the RAM space. The 16GB variant is powered by a 3GB RAM.
