Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. Products

OnePlus finally axes invites and lets customers pre-order in late October (updated)

By

oneplus axes invites opens pre order one 02 1500x1000
Image used with permission by copyright holder
OnePlus has been getting all kinds of bad press in the past few weeks for its questionable marketing campaigns, but now the smartphone startup has some good news for its would-be customers. The company is working on a pre-order system that should launch in October, so girls won’t have to send sexy pictures anymore and guys won’t have to be invited to get the coveted OnePlus One smartphone.

During an “Ask Me Anything” Reddit session, a member of the OnePlus team said that the startup is hard at work on the pre-order system and expects to get it up and running by October. Then, OnePlus will kill off the invite system and stop limiting who gets its unique One smartphone. The pre-order page should have been up in September, but unforeseen problems delayed its launch.

Recommended Videos

Updated on 09-18-2014 by Malarie Gokey: OnePlus officially announced that it will open the OnePlus One up for preorders in late October

Then, in mid-September, OnePlus officially announced that starting in late October for a limited time, anyone who wants a OnePlus One can order the phone online. If OnePlus has your phone in stock, it will ship immediately, but if the company’s sold out, you’ll be added to the preorder list. However, that means if a lot of people order the phone, preorders may get pushed back for a long time.

“No matter what, we’ll always tell you our best approximation for when it will ship before you submit the payment authorization (we’ll reserve the payment and charge you when we ship),” OnePlus added.

No exact date was given for when the preorder period will start, nor for how long it will last or how many OnePlus Ones are in supply.

Related: Check out our OnePlus One review

The invite system resulted in a very limited launch of the One to a select few users. The exclusivity of the phone, along with its innovative design and special CyanogenMod version of the Android OS, generated a lot of hype and would-be customers would do almost anything for an invite. OnePlus took full advantage of the craze and issued several social media contests, many of which have proven controversial.

Luckily, it seems that OnePlus must have learned something from its earlier blunders. Although the company did start another contest during the AMA session, it was strictly PG. OnePlus promised to send a hundred invites to users who replied to its post.

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Malarie Gokey
Malarie Gokey
Former Digital Trends Contributor
As DT's Mobile Editor, Malarie runs the Mobile and Wearables sections, which cover smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, and…
Is this our first look at the OnePlus Watch 3?
Someone wearing the OnePlus Watch 2.

The OnePlus Watch 2 Joe Maring / Digital Trends

OnePlus has a small portfolio of wearables, particularly smartwatches. Despite its bankable hardware, the OnePlus Watch 2 that launched earlier this year had some evident cutbacks. These include the lack of LTE connectivity, the half-baked crown button, and the absence of now-standard health features such as ECG and body weight composition. With its next watch, OnePlus appears to be addressing some of those issues, a recent certification listing in China has revealed.

Read more
The OnePlus 13 just got exciting
A person holding the OnePlus 12.

Four months after its release, the OnePlus 12 remains one of the best smartphones you can buy in 2024. It looks great, offers incredible specifications, and has an excellent price. One of the first OnePlus 13 leaks was just shared online, and if it’s true, it could make one of this year’s best phones even better … with a catch.

According to leaker Digital Chat Station, the OnePlus 13 will feature two big upgrades over the OnePlus 12. The first is its screen. Unlike the OnePlus 12 and OnePlus 12R, which both have curved displays, the OnePlus 13 will reportedly have a “straight screen.” The translation from the Chinese post on Weibo to English isn’t perfect, but it certainly sounds like the OnePlus 13 is ditching the curved screen of its predecessor in favor of a flat one.

Read more
I tried the new OnePlus 12 in white. It’s the Elvis Presley of Android phones
OnePlus 12 Glacial White held in hand against a marble surface.

We're long past the days when phones were distinguished solely based on their design. Despite more modern form factors such as foldables, the contemporary slab phone design reigns supreme -- because why reinvent the wheel when the current one gives you perfect traction on all roads? That said, phone brands have never stopped imagining newer design tweaks to help phones stand out, and a phone's color is a primary focus of attention.

Within the limited dimensions of the back panel, smartphone brands have persistently iterated different color choices, combinations, and textures over the past few years. We have seen trends such as textures under glass, gradients, vegan leather, and more. But OnePlus is taking a rather simple step of launching a new white color variant of the OnePlus 12. The Glacial White OnePlus 12 has been available in China since the phone was originally launched last December and is now moving out of the mainland as a limited edition.

Read more