OnePlus 2 to Be Available in Open Sale for a 'Limited Time'

OnePlus 2 has been available with an invite system since launch in July. Though, the company has finally announced that it will keep an open sale for the handset soon. The news was confirmed by OnePlus CEO Carl Pei on the company's official forum where he also discussed various factors including delay in units of the OnePlus 2.

OnePlus ahead of OnePlus 2 smartphone launch promised several features including new and improved invite system for the handset apart from claiming "30-50x more invites" on offer than last time. However, things have not worked in favour of the company for the OnePlus 2 launch.

(Also see: Airtel, OnePlus Partner to Offer OnePlus 2 Experience at Select Stores)

"With the OnePlus 2, we made rosy plans. We were more confident, and prepared a lot more inventory. We told our users it would be 30-50x easier to get invites, and they needn't worry. Yet, we only began shipping in meaningful quantities this week, nearly a month after our initial targeted shipping date. You can talk all you want, but in the end, flawless execution speaks much louder than unfulfilled promises. I'd like to apologise on behalf of OnePlus for the delay," said Pei.

OnePlus CEO has also acknowledged that the delay in OnePlus inventory has "brought huge opportunity cost upon our OnePlus". He also points out that the situation has led shortened the product life cycle of the OnePlus 2 (Review).

The open sale for the OnePlus 2 for a limited time is a way the company seeks to make it up to their fans for the delay. Pei confirmed that the open sales for an hour late this month or early next month for the OnePlus 2 smartphone will be announced shortly. Pei however has not revealed any specific date for the open sale citing "production and operations" reasons. The news, as with other such global efforts by the company, doesn't apply to India, where users still have to buy the smartphone via Amazon.in after gaining an invite.

Further adding, Pei confessed that OnePlus 2 launch was again plagued with several issues. "We simply messed up again and apologise for that. We don't plan on making further promises for future launches, and will instead focus on showing the world how we've improved through our actions," he added.

To recall, the OnePlus 2 aka '2016 flagship killer' (as the company calls it) smartphone received impressive response from consumers as over 850,000 people registered for the invite within 2-days of launch.

In separate news, OnePlus One is now available via Snapdeal. The smartphone was initially available via Amazon India; though Flipkart started selling the One in June. Starting Friday, the OnePlus One 64GB Sandstone Black variant will be available via Snapdeal at Rs. 21,998.