OnePlus CEO Says Will Consider Smaller Smartphone If Battery Tech Permits, OnePlus 6T US Sales Up 249 Percent

OnePlus at the launch of the OnePlus 6T in October this year announced that the latest flagship model would be available in the US market through a partnership with telecom giant T-Mobile. The Chinese phone maker's CEO Pete Lau has now reportedly confirmed that OnePlus 6T US sales were up 249 percent in the first 30 days, compared to those of the OnePlus 6 earlier this year, owing mostly to this partnership. Additionally, Lau said that OnePlus is keen to release phones with a smaller form factor, however battery is one aspect it is not willing to negotiate upon.

In an interview with PCMag, on the sidelines of Qualcomm Snapdragon Summit 2018 in Hawaii, CEO Pete Lau said (through a translator) that the company would love to release a smaller, high-quality smartphone because there is a certain market demand for it. However, battery life is a major area of concern as OnePlus will have to sacrifice on battery capacity in order to create a smaller phone than the OnePlus 6T.

"If we can solve the battery problem, we would definitely make a smaller one. I see a lot of demand for this kind of size. But looking at the industry, the technology of batteries hasn't changed too much over all these years,” said Lau.

Apart from that, Lau also revealed sales trends in the interview. The CEO claims that OnePlus 6T sales are up by a whopping 249 percent over the OnePlus 6, in the first 30 days of release, in the US. This is mostly due to the T-Mobile partnership that allowed OnePlus to place its latest flagship offering across 5,600 T-Mobile stores in the US starting November.

While the handset manufacturer did not reveal any sales figures, predecessor OnePlus 6 is reported to have sold 1 million units globally in the first 22 days of release.

Lau also talked about how the decision of removing the headphone jack from the OnePlus 6T was taken keeping in mind an extension to battery life. "As you know, as the screen gets bigger and bigger, with a bigger battery, it limits the space [inside the phone.] Compared to the OnePlus 6, the OnePlus 6T's battery size is bigger even though its power consumption is lower, so it has longer battery life."

Earlier this week, Pete Lau had confirmed that OnePlus' first 5G-enabled smartphone would be unveiled in May next year. He also said that this would not be a successor to the OnePlus 6T, and instead be the first of a premium brand considering it could be $200-300 (around Rs. 14,300-Rs. 21,500) more expensive than the OnePlus 6T.

As for its smart TV project, the OnePlus CEO says, “"We don't have a launch date now. We will not launch until we think it's ready and perfect.”