Has OnePlus Lost Its Appeal?

As it transforms from flagship killer to flagship maker, the company finds itself in an unusual position: without a distinctive identity

In the tech world, every company is defined by an element of its product that makes them identifiable. That thing that when you think of that company that identifiable element is what you think of. If a company does not have that element then ultimately they are capped by the success that they are capable of. HTC many years ago, for instance, was known for the speakers on its phones. Their BoomSound technology made the One series of phones such a hit. When the company started to go away from that, it also started to lose its identity as a brand a bit. A similar conundrum seems to befall OnePlus these days. The flagship killer company has seemed to conform a little more these days, bringing into question what is the company’s hook for customers?

The Never Settle Era

To understand where OnePlus is today, it is important to understand where they were at the beginning. The OnePlus One was one of the most intriguing value proposition smartphones that we have ever seen. Starting at $300 with a flagship chipset it asked the question of…