OnePlus Z to bring the classic flagship killer package? OnePlus was traditionally an enthusiast brand that built devices for mobile enthusiasts and developers. They were known as the brand that disrupted the ecosystem by bringing affordable “flagship killers” with the likes of OnePlus 1, 2, 3 and 3T. Shortly after they gained global recognition and became more mainstream, their products also became more premium – moving from the mid-range to the more premium section of smartphones.
All this is set to change and OnePlus might go back to its roots, but not quite. CEO Pete Lau in a forum post said that they’re bringing back the affordable range of devices again. He also linked to an Instagram account called OnePlusLiteZThing which had it’s most recent post spell out “July” in Morse code.
Now this new OnePlus Z or OnePlus 8 Lite or Nord by OnePlus, whatever it will be called is not meant to be a flagship killer. It will not have the latest and fastest Snapdragon processor because that would mean cannibalizing OnePlus 8 series’ sales. Instead, this new OnePlus Z would be in a category that I like to call the “Middle Class Flagship”. This category is meant for devices that have flagship DNA but they’re not quite at the top due to a slower processor or lack of certain flagship features.
We did talk about this back in April and with the Morse code hint, it seems that we were accurate with the launch date. Pete Lau did say that the OnePlus Z would come to India and Europe first and then they would bring it to the North American market.
I personally wouldn’t dismiss the Nord name as it could be some reverse psychology trick to omit “Nord” from the Instagram page. It first appeared on a tweet by the OnePlus India handle before being taken down swiftly.
It could also be called the OnePlus Y as it is a potential successor to the OnePlus X, which didn’t fare too well for OnePlus back then, but times sure have changed.
Whatever the name of this new device, I’m excited to get my hands on the new “Middle Class Flagship” from OnePlus and hopefully they add some details reminiscent of the older OnePlus devices!