OnePlus has also said that Elisa will be one among the first mobile operators in the world to launch a commercial 5G network. Furthermore, the press statement also highlighted that OnePlus and Elisa have worked together for years and the latter is actually the first network operator that the Chinese smartphone brand has partnered with. It has also been said that smartphones by OnePlus have been Elisa’s best-selling devices for the last 26 months.
We should mention that OnePlus first revealed that it will be launching a 5G device at MWC Shanghai in June 2018 and following this, it spoke about its strategy at Qualcomm 4G/5G summit that was held in October last year. Back then, the company only said that it will be launching its 5G smartphone in the first half of 2019. After that at Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Tech Summit, that was held in Hawaii in December last year, OnePlus CEO Pete Lau announced that the company will be using the American chipmaker’s latest Snapdragon 855 processor in its 5G smartphone. In the months that followed, it was also revealed that OnePlus 5G smartphone will not be a part of the company’s regular flagship range. This is because the cost of the 5G smartphone by the company will be $200-300 higher than the price of regular OnePlus devices and the company wants to stick to its strategy of offering premium ‘flagship’ features at an affordable price. So OnePlus decided to launch the devices in a separate range altogether. The most recent announcement by the company has been that its 5G smartphone will be showcased at the upcoming Mobile World Congress 2019, that is scheduled to begin on February 25 and will go on till February 28. We should also mention that Qualcomm will also be showcasing its 5G modems and cellular equipment at the MWC 2019.