When OnePlus came onto the scene in 2014 with the One, it promised a Flagship Killer. It delivered too, with a $349 Android device with top-end specs, an innovative design with different materials like bamboo, and fan-favorite Cyanogen building out the OS. The reason it was so cheap was because OnePlus really wasn't taking on any expenses. It didn't even have money for anything else.

At the time, you needed an invitation to buy the phone. Once you got one, you also got three invitations to give to your friends, and a lot of people gave those away in the OnePlus forums, helping the company to build a community around its product. In other words, OnePlus wasn't spending any money on marketing, on carrier deals, or anything like that.