There won't be a OnePlus 10, but OnePlus' cheapest 5G phone will launch this year

There won't be a OnePlus 10, but OnePlus' cheapest 5G phone will launch this year

The OnePlus 10 Pro has now been officially launched for the rest of the world, with the phone landing in North America, Europe, and India in late March after its initial China-only launch in January.

But for those hoping for a more affordable variant of the OnePlus 10, we have bad news. It does not happen

The reveal was made during an exclusive MWC 2022 press conference, where OnePlus founder Pete Lau confirmed that we would only see the OnePlus 10 Pro 5G.

This is the first time OnePlus has released a single flagship version of its main line (not counting the semi-annual iterations of the "T" series) since the OnePlus 6 in 2018. The 7, 8, and 9 series are available in Pro versions and variants. not professionals.

OnePlus is not looking to reduce its range of devices, rather it is looking to do the opposite.

The cheapest OnePlus 5G phone yet

Chris Shu, OnePlus' vice president of product strategy, revealed that the company wants to "diversify" its product offering and that in 2022 it will "continue to launch more products in a broader price range." And one of those products will be its most affordable 5G phone to date.

Shu confirmed that the affordable 5G phone will launch in Europe and India later this year, but did not elaborate on its specifications, expected price, or whether the company plans to launch it in other parts of the world.

Currently, the brand's cheapest 5G phone on sale is the OnePlus Nord CE 5G, which costs €299 / €299 / Rs 22,999 (around €330). OnePlus has announced the successor to this phone, the Nord CE 2 5G, which will be available from March.

OnePlus North CE

The Nord CE is currently the cheapest OnePlus 5G phone (Image credit: Future/Srivatsa Ramesh)

However, given that the Nord CE 2 is priced the same as its predecessor, we think OnePlus is hinting at an even more affordable 5G phone for later this year in this latest announcement.

It's not just an expansion of its smartphone lineup that's slated for this year, Lau added that the company "will also launch new IoT (Internet of Things) products in existing categories and expand into other new IoT categories in 2022." .

OnePlus Internet

In addition to phones, OnePlus already sells wireless headphones and a smartwatch, so there's still plenty of room for new product categories.

While the executives we spoke to didn't reveal what those new categories would be, we can look to parent company Oppo for inspiration, as it already has a more diverse product portfolio. Lau even admitted that OnePlus will leverage Oppo's R&D resources and industry-leading technologies in future devices.

In addition to a wider range of smartphones, smartwatches and wireless headphones, Oppo also sells the Oppo Band fitness tracker, the OnePlus Pad tablet and various internet routers.

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