Good news: more than half of the voters in last week’s poll will be using a OnePlus phone. Bad news: that doesn’t mean they’re buying a OnePlus 6T. In fact, only about a third of the voters are planning on getting one (or have done so already).
There’s a significant number of people who will hold on to their current OnePlus phone – 6 or older, the vote was evenly split on this one. That’s a compliment to the company if you think about it, their phones have longevity.
But the most popular option in the poll showed that people are looking to other brands to upgrade. OnePlus has done a stellar job of building a community, which made their phones such a success.
The OnePlus 6T seems to be the first time that the company is out of tune with its audience. And that audience tends to be single-minded and believes in the “Never settle” mantra. Unlike Samsung or Xiaomi, who have phones in every price category, even Apple has alternative, OnePlus sells only one phone at a time. And if that phone isn’t a hit... there’s no replacement arriving for half a year.
However, OnePlus recently entered the US market in partnership with T-Mobile, so the 6T has plenty of room to grow. Especially in a market with so few “value for money” brands (e.g. there’s no Pocophone in the US and LTE bands make imports unpractical).
We’ll see what kind of first month sales the OnePlus 6T manages, that should be a good indication of whether the phone finds success or not.