BANGALORE, India -- One Plus 3, the next flagship for Chinese smartphone-manufacturer OnePlus, will be launched in Q2 2016, the company's co-founder and CEO Pete Lau revealed Wednesday at the SURGE tech conference in Bangalore, India. Lau revealed some interesting details about the handset at the conference, while a leaked video of the rumoured OnePlus 3 made the rounds.
After looking at the recent launches at the SURGE event, Lau said he was more confident of OnePlus 3's success and that it was going to be the "most worthwhile phone" of the year. OnePlus is investing a lot of time and effort into the design aspect of the OnePlus 3, he said.
"Right now we are designing the OnePlus 3, which hasn't been launched yet, but what's specific is the curvature on the back of the OnePlus 3," Lau said during the conference in Bangalore. "It took us about 3-4 months adjusting the curvature and reprinting the models to get it perfect."
Lau did not reveal specifics of the phone itself, but hinted at the price of the phone, saying: "Good products are never going to be too cheap."
Lau also addressed the ongoing price war in India, which recently surpassed the US to become the world's second-largest smartphone market. He said the core values of his company remain ecommerce and building a great product for consumers. Although, the premium smartphones have taken a back seat in the mainstream market with the constant demand for budget phones, Lau said, adding that it was going to be a short-lived affair.
"We believe the market is going to develop in the long term," he said. "If you look at it from a 3-5-year window, it's not going to make sense to premium smartphones but we are looking at 10-20 years. We believe India will develop to a point where most people will want to buy premium smartphones."
Talking to LiveMint, Lau revealed that as part of the company's support of the Make in India campaign, 90 percent of its phones sold locally would be manufactured in India by 2017. However, he added that the biggest challenge to that was if the Indian manufacturing quality did not meet the company's quality standard, it would hinder the desired experience.
In an exclusive interview with CNET, the company's co-founder Carl Pei said the new phone would have a "new design" and hoped the upcoming flagship smartphone would charm its users as much as its first smartphone, OnePlus One.
OnePlus 3 will be the fourth smartphone in the company's limited product portfolio after OnePlus 2, OnePlus X and OnePlus One. Founded in 2013, the Chinese smartphone-maker has forayed into global markets through ecommerce. It is now planning to improve the purchasing experience for its new flagship, which will arrive in the US and other markets as an unlocked model.
