OnePlus has confirmed that its third smartphone will be unveiled on October 29. The arrival of a new handset is always welcomed although issues with the company's first two phones may overshadow the launch.
The new phone, dubbed the OnePlus X in the announcement on Twitter, is likely to be a mid-tier offering. A recently pass through the FCC noted a 5.5-inch display, 1.9GHz processor, LTE, Bluetooth, GPS, Wi-Fi and an FM radio tuning chip. Odds are, it'll ship running the company's Android-based OxygenOS.
A purported premature posting on Amazon's Indian portal revealed additional details but there's no way to confirm the posting's authenticity.
The original OnePlus went on sale in April 2014 via an invite-only process, likely to help with overwhelming demand. The same invite system was used to distribute the OnePlus 2 over the summer yet as Engadget highlights, many buyers are still waiting for their new phone to arrive.
Launching a third device before buyers of the previous phone even have theirs sounds like a PR nightmare waiting to happen. The demand is understandable as both handsets offer tremendous value for the money but at some point, the annoying invite system has to go. Keeping it around too much longer is only going to further annoy potential buyers and likely drive some away.
OnePlus is hosting the October 29 launch event in London with a companion event to take place in Beijing.