OnePlus first made its name as a phone maker, but now it has plenty of other devices on sale as well – and according to a fresh leak, it would seem a lot of those other devices are going to be getting upgraded before the end of the year.
This is according to the usually reliable Mukul Sharma, who says that two pairs of true wireless earbuds (one with the Nord branding), the OnePlus Watch 2, the OnePlus Band 2 and a couple of smartphones are due to launch in the third quarter of 2022 (so that’s July, August or September).
Most of the accessories that OnePlus has made in the past, like the OnePlus Nord Buds, have been reasonably well received by consumers. If more hardware is on the way, OnePlus must be confident that there’s enough of a market out there for it.
The story so far
OnePlus currently sells three different types of wireless earbuds, with a variety of features and a choice of price points. You can also pick up these audio devices in bundles with OnePlus smartphones in some parts of the world.
As for the OnePlus Watch, it was unveiled in March 2021, so it’s already been a year since we saw it first appear. It runs its own bespoke operating system, so presumably the OnePlus Watch 2 will follow suit when it makes its debut.
The OnePlus Band fitness tracker, meanwhile, is currently only available in India – it remains to be seen whether the OnePlus Band 2 follow-up device, if it is indeed on the way, is going to be available in more regions when it goes on sale.
Analysis: not just smartphones
The path that OnePlus is taking is one that most other smartphone manufacturers are also following, and it makes sense: having earbuds, smartwatches and fitness trackers that can be bundled with phones means more in the way of sales and profit.
Take a look at Apple for example. We know all about the iPhone, but then we’ve also got the AirPods, the Apple Watch and much more besides (though it’s perhaps unlikely that OnePlus will move into laptops and streaming boxes too).
Samsung and Google are two more companies that offer plenty of accessories around their flagship smartphones, and new products continue to be added all the time – with the Google Pixel Watch now finally official and going on sale soon.
With that sort of competition, OnePlus knows it needs to keep up. While the sales figures that OnePlus sees for these accessories may not match those of its rivals, it’s important to have these products available to go head to head against other companies.