OnePlus has permanently lowered the price of its OnePlus 2 smartphone to $349, a $40 drop from its original price of $389 when it was launched in the United States in August 2015.
The company announced the lower price in a Feb. 8 post on its Website, explaining that increasing production and sales figures inspired the price reduction. OnePlus originally offered the phone through an invite-only system through another buyer or through the company, but last December dropped the invitation policy and made it available to anyone who wanted to purchase one.
"We learned a lot from our first flagship phone," the post states. "The invite system helped get the OnePlus 2 off the ground, and now thanks to both timing and scale, our operations have sized up to the Goldilocks principle of just right. So, why not let our fans join us in celebrating the fruits of our labor?"
OnePlus 2 buyers who made their purchases within the last 15 days will receive an automatic refund of $40, according to the company, so they too can take advantage of the price reduction.
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And just in time for Valentine's Day, buyers who purchase any of the company's phones will also receive a free StyleSwap Cover or OnePlus X Case when ordering the devices, according to the company.
The $349 OnePlus 2 smartphone has 64GB of internal storage, 4GB of LPDDR4 memory and is wrapped inside an aluminum-magnesium alloy frame that features jewelry-grade stainless steel accents. It includes a Full HD 5.5-inch In-Plane Switching (IPS) LCD display, a 64-bit octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor, an Adreno 430 graphics processor and up to 64GB of on-board eMMC 5.0 flash storage. The smartphone's display can be read in direct sunlight and offers 178-degree viewing angles so it can be read from many positions.
The OnePlus 2 also features 4G LTE capabilities, a SwiftKey keyboard that learns words that are chosen often by users, a fingerprint scanner for security, a 3,300mAh lithium polymer battery, a USB Type-C charging port and dual SIM card slots that support two Nano SIM cards.
A 13-megapixel rear-facing digital camera is also built into the OneTouch 2, which includes six physical lenses, dual LED flash, an advanced Optical Image Stabilization system and an f/2.0 aperture for great images, even in low-light conditions. Also built-in is a wide-angle 5MP front-facing camera for selfies.
The OnePlus 2, which has smooth curves and clean lines, is available in Sandstone Black while customers can also purchase a variety of covers made from wood, including bamboo, black apricot or rosewood.
The OnePlus 2 runs on OnePlus' own operating system, OxygenOS, which is based on Android 5.1. OxygenOS allows users to customize on-screen gestures, buttons, quick settings and more.
The company's other handset, its midmarket OnePlus X phone, sells for $249 and was unveiled in October 2015. It also runs on OxygenOS, which differentiates it from the many Android and Apple iOS models on the market. The OnePlus X features a 5-inch Full HD display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, 3GB of memory, 16GB of on-board storage which is expandable with a memory card up to 128GB, and a 2,525mAh lithium battery. It also includes a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera, an 8MP front-facing camera and a dual SIM card option. It is available in champagne or onyx colors.
OnePlus' original OnePlus One smartphone went on sale in April 2014 and sold more than one million units, according to the company. The phones are built to take on Apple's iPhones, Samsung's Galaxy S6 devices and other premium phones from the world's top manufacturers.
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