OnePlus will be dropping one of its signature features from its upcoming smartphone. And really, it’s a good sign for the Chinese smartphone maker. Previous generations of handsets have been regulated by an invite system, something put in place by the company early on as it attempted to find its place in a seemingly overcrowded market.
All in all, the last few years have been pretty good for OnePlus. Great critical reviews have helped cultivate a loyal fanbase for its high-quality, low-cost handsets, leading the company to issue “millions of invites over the past two years” by its fairly broad count.
That not entirely exclusive club is about to open to everyone with the June 14th launch of the OnePlus 3, which will arrive sans-invite, saving fans the hassle of endless refreshing and message board begging. And while the company is casting off the system as a relic of the past, there’s still a sense of bittersweetness in the “Let’s talk about invites” forum post that announced the move:
The demand for the OnePlus One was much higher than expected. Some got into a frenzy hunting for invites, while others have complained continuously and loudly ever since. Regardless though, the invite system allowed us to scale our operations and manage our risks to help us grow more sustainably.
The big reveal will occur, naturally, in the company’s VR environment, The Loop (not to be confused with the Chicago business district), “which doubles as the world’s first global VR shopping experience.” Never change, OnePlus.