The OnePlus One sold 1.5 million units within its first year

Let’s take a second to reflect on the fact that the OnePlus One, the first smartphone from a Chinese startup that was expected to sell a maximum of 50,000 units, managed to sell 1.5 million units within its first year, and that number would likely have been much higher if it wasn’t for constant stock shortages. Now the question is, will OnePlus be able to achieve the same level of success with the OnePlus 2? 

OnePlus doesn’t often talk about sales numbers, but the company’s cofounder Carl Pei was happy enough to share some in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. The big takeaway is that the OnePlus One sold 1.5 million units within its first year, with 1 million of those coming within the first 6 months. Of course, that doesn’t sound as gaudy and cool as some of the big guys who reach for 10 million units within a few months’ time, but OnePlus is still a very new company, and the small capital they had to work with — plus the lack of brand awareness and a meager marketing budget — certainly excuses them for not being able to reach those numbers. In fact, it’s surprising that they were even able to hit 1 million units at all, especially with the pitfalls that came with the invitation system and the controversy surrounding their marketing tactics and the Cyanogen Mod breakup. OnePlus had quite a few chips stacked against them, and yet they’re about to hit the ground running with their second smartphone release which they anticipate will outpace the OnePlus One by a crap ton.