When the OnePlus One was launched in 2014, the China-based company went for an unusual marketing strategy — it allowed purchases via invites only. In an arena dominated by bigger manufacturers and more popular handsets such as Samsung's Galaxy S5, Google's Nexus 5, and HTC's M8, OnePlus succeeded in getting the attention of tech pundits, thus the number of sales for the company's OnePlus One model skyrocketed.
Now, it seems that OnePlus will be repeating its tried and tested program for the One's successor.
In a recent AMA session on Reddit, OnePlus' marketing director David Sanmartin confirmed that the launch for the OnePlus Two, the highly touted successor to the One, will again be an invite-only affair. No explanation was offered on why the China-based company is regulating the number of participants and possible buyers on the release day, but most observers say that this is to maximize the word-of-mouth strategy of the company and also to keep track of production, since OnePlus will have control over how many handsets it would release within a given time frame.
The announcement dashed the hopes of many fans that OnePlus would be taking a more mainstream approach to the Two device, after the company released the One from the invite-only purchase and recently made it available to the global market.
The session also confirmed reports about the features of the new phone. According to Sanmartin, the new OnePlus Two will not have a removable battery and an expanded storage, as microSD support will be absent.
The new device will also deviate from the One in terms of price. The OnePlus One is known as a smart alternative to other high-end mobile phones with good specs but high prices. The OnePlus Two, on the other hand, will be "a different phone with a different price," hinting that it may have premium, high-end features and will also be priced accordingly.
