Chinese manufacturer OnePlus is increasing the price of its flagship smartphone in the United Kingdom, as the value of the British Pound continues to decline against the dollar. The OnePlus 3 will be £329 in the UK since July 11. People order the device for £309 until Monday.
David S., a spokesman for the startup company, remarked on Monday that the U.K.’s decision to abandon the European Union has “forced” OnePlus to rethink prices of the OnePlus 3. The latter is described as the best budget phone on the market.
“Given the effects of the unstable markets on our extremely thin margins, we’re reluctantly going to have make some small changes to our pricing structure for the device. Accessories will not be affected, and will remain and their current prices in GBP,” said David S. in a press release.
Since next Monday, customers will have to pay £20 more for acquiring a OnePlus3 device. The company said demand for the smartphone has been “significant,” although it will have to “absorb the resulting losses.”
OnePlus 3: Best phone in the market for £329
The OnePlus 3 has received overall great reviews from tech analysts. The soon to be £329 phone features a unibody design built in aluminum. It also comes with a USB Type-C port, a 16-megapixel camera, a full HD 5.5-inch display, running on Google Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow.
OnePlus announced earlier in the year its flagship would be updated to Android N in the coming months. The OnePlus 3 includes a 3,000mAh battery to empower a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor and 6GB RAM.
Benchmark scores of the One Plus 3 are similar to those obtained by high-end smartphones such as the Samsung’s Galaxy S7, the LG G5 or the HTC 10, according to tests conducted by Cnet. Some fans of the Chinese brand said the price spike would be inevitable.
A user wrote a message to spokesman David S., saying he appreciates the opportunity to buy a OnePlus3 “still at that ordinary price.” A graphic issued by the brand compared the British Pound against the dollar over the last two years.
The British pound decline had been consistent over the last two years, but a considerable negative curve can be observed when the Brexit was announced. The company said in a statement it would maintain its strategy of offering lower prices.
Tech industry and Brexit: App prices may increase over the next months
Technology prices would rise in the coming months in the United Kingdom, according to economists and manufacturers. Last year, the region spent more than £15 million buying content in the Apple App Store, said Trusted Reviews.
Prices of apps would increase soon, as a consequence of exchange rate fluctuations and a decrease of the British pound’s value. For instance, app prices rose in Russia when the local currency fell last year.
Research firm App Annie told Trusted Reviews that “it would not be unusual for stores to adjust local prices.” Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, said the pound’s fall would be related to “the volatile Euro and its effects on the foreign exchange rate.”
Source: OnePlus Statement