When Chinese startup OnePlus launched the OnePlus 2 earlier this year, the company referred to it as a 2016 flagship killer, suggesting it had features that would make it the best phone of both this year and the next.

Now OnePlus is launching a whole new line of lower-priced phones, starting with the $249 OnePlus X. And while the company isn’t saying anything about flagships this time, it sort of has the specs of a 2014 flagship killer.

x_00

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, because 2014 was a pretty good year for smartphone hardware. What’s special about the OnePlus One isn’t that it has the specs of an older phone… but that it has those specs and a relatively low price tag.

The OnePlus X sports a 5 inch, 1920 x 1080 pixel AMOLED display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, 3GB of RAM, and 16GB of storage. OnePlus won’t offer models with any more storage space than that, but for the first time the company is including a microSD card slot, allowing you to expand the storage yourself.

Other features include a 13MP rear camera, an 8MP front camera, Corning Gorilla Glass 3, an LED notification light, a mono speaker, and a 2,525 mAh battery. The phone supports dual SIM card slots. It runs OxygenOS, which is currently based on Android 5.1 Lollipop, although work on an Android 6.0 update is underway.

What you won’t find are some of the hot features of 2015. There’s no fingerprint sensor, USB Type-C port, or 4K video recording support. There’s also no NFC chip.

OnePlus is putting a heavy emphasis on design: the phone has a glass back and an aluminum frame. There will also be a limited edition ceramic model coming soon. Only 10,000 ceramic OnePlus X units are expected to be produced.

The OnePlus X will be available for purchase in November, but there’s a catch. Like other OnePlus smartphones, at launch the X will only be available to purchase if you have an invite. Sales begin for European customers on November 5th, while folks with invites in the US will be able to place orders starting November 19th. The ceramic version will be available in Europe and India November 24th for €379 ($415).

After the first month, OnePlus will increase sales of the OnePlus X by holding weekly open sales and other opportunities.

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12 replies on “$249 OnePlus X is a 2014 flagship killer”

  1. Still rocking my OnePlus One and no plans to stop. Yes, buying it was annoying, but it remains my favorite phone since the Nokia N95.

  2. Aren’t these basically the same specs (except no NFC and a smaller screen) as the 16GB OnePlus One? Which can be found cheaper than this on eBay? (At least in the US)

    1. The main differences from an OPO are:
      1> 5″ AMOLED instead of 5.5″ LCD

      2> No NFC
      3> Added memory slot
      and most important:
      4> Missing 2 of the most popular LTE bands in the US.

      I expect it will be mainly targeted at China and India markets and not the US.

  3. FOOL ME ONCE SHAME ON ME………………………………………..

  4. No nfc! Again! I was actually excited but now I’m just going to ignore this phone

  5. here we go again with this BS hype and invites, why don’t you morons out there just buy your 6 phones a year that you think you need from manufactures that actually have them in stock….this is sillier than the once a year apple *uck-fest…

    1. Why don’t you go suck a fat d*ck if you can’t stay civilized.

  6. Got excited till I got to no NFC. What does this company have against NFC?

    1. Well if the flagship doesn’t have NFC and this does, they will be run over by angry mob with pitchforks.

    2. When you pare the price down to $249 for a phone with “flagship features” something has to give.

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