OnePlus has confirmed some major news, ahead of its forthcoming OnePlus 6 launch.
CEO Pete Lau revealed the cult company had doubled its revenue last year to more than £1 billion, helping to push it into “healthy profits”.
Lau revealed the statistics during an exclusive chat with The Telegraph.
OnePlus debuted its flagship OnePlus 5, with an all-new aluminium design and dual camera set-up, as well as an iterative follow-up, OnePlus 5T, last year.
These hugely competitive smartphones clearly translated into strong sales for the company.
When OnePlus launched its limited edition Sandstone White OnePlus 5T earlier this month, it sold-out in hours.
OnePlus is still a relatively small company – especially when compared to rivals like HTC, Samsung, Apple and Sony – however, despite its size, Lau says the company has managed to eke-out healthy margins by focusing on the high-end of the market.
The smartphone company sells the majority of its hardware directly to the fans.
However, O2 is the exclusive carrier partner in the UK, selling OnePlus smartphones on a range of contracts.
OnePlus not disclosed revenues since 2014, however, Lau told The Telegraph that he wants the company to be more transparent about revenues in the future.
“If a company isn’t healthy, consumers will think twice about buying a product from them,” he said.
“We want to send a signal that we’re a healthy company.”
OnePlus CEO Lau previously teased the launch of the next flagship smartphone.
Presumably named OnePlus 6, the all-new smartphone will be unveiled late in Q2 2018, Pete Lau confirmed earlier this month.
The Chinese smartphone start-up’s second financial quarter runs from April 1st to June 30th.
If the company is targeting the end of that quarter, we can expect the OnePlus 6 to launch in a similar timeframe to the OnePlus 5 last year.
Elsewhere, OnePlus CEO Pete Lau also confirmed the processor that will power the next-generation handset.
Like the much-rumoured Samsung Galaxy S9, the OnePlus 6 will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845.
“Of course, there’s no other choice,” Pete Lau told CNET during the CES tradeshow in Las Vegas earlier this month.
The OnePlus 6 could also represent a real watershed moment for the Chinese company.
OnePlus wants to nail down distribution deals with the major US carriers, enabling customers to buy the smartphone in-store on monthly contracts.