Chinese startup OnePlus plans to launch a high-end smartphone that will ship with CyanogenMod software. While founder Pete Lau hasn’t had much to say about the phone’s features, he is promising one thing: The OnePlus One smartphone will sell for less than $500.

That’s the price for an unlocked, contract-free version of the phone.

oneplus logo

That promise would have probably meant a lot more a few years ago when you had to pay well over $500 to get a top-tier smartphone without a contract. But with the last few Google Nexus phones offering premium features and starting prices around $300 to $400, Lau’s promise seems realistic, but not extraordinarily exciting.

I guess we’ll have to wait to see just how much less than $500 the phone costs, and what kind of features it packs.

OnePlus may be a new company, but Lau has a bit of experience developing high quality phones that sell for reasonable prices. He worked at Chinese phone maker Oppo before founding OnePlus. It’s probably no coincidence that Oppo was the first company to ship a phone running CyanogenMod software.

The Oppo N1 CyanogenMod Edition is a bit pricier than the upcoming OnePlus One though. It sells for $599.

via Android Police

 

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4 replies on “OnePlus One smartphone to sell for $500 or less”

  1. 600 bux for a chinese phone? Why would you pay that when you can get a htc one for less? Or the Nexus 5..

  2. Given that there is so much hype in this field, with mediocre delivery, I’ll pay attention to anyon’s bold claims when the product is actually shipping and
    can back those claims up. An apropo remark: talk is cheap.

    1. Exactly! Every company boasts about “the next best thing” like being significantly thinner, lighter, longer battery life, and only partially living up to the hype they create, yet people still say “WOW it is 0.1 mm thinner!”

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