Hands-on with OnePlus 2: Impressive specs for the price with thoughtful software additions, fingerprint unlock sensor works as advertised
The OnePlus 2 pushes the boundaries of how cheap a flagship phone can be — There are more options than ever for getting a good, cheap smartphone, and last year's OnePlus One was a standout.
Context & Ripple Effects
A year after the OnePlus One made its name as a standout among good, cheap smartphones, OnePlus is back with a sequel it teased days early when images surfaced on a Chinese wireless regulator's site. The announcement set the frame: Aug. 11 availability, $329 starting price, Snapdragon 810, USB-C, and a fingerprint sensor.
Today's hands-on answers the practical question the spec sheet can't: the fingerprint unlock works as advertised, and the software additions feel thoughtful rather than bolted on. That matters because The Verge frames the phone as pushing the boundary of how cheap a flagship can be — a claim the follow-up review would soon cement by calling it the best deal on the market.
First-order effects
- Buyers get near-flagship hardware — 5.5-inch 1080p display, Snapdragon 810, 13MP camera — at $329 for the 16GB model, roughly half what established Android flagships commanded in 2015.
- The fingerprint sensor passing hands-on scrutiny removes the biggest functional risk in the spec sheet, since biometric unlock was still a differentiator rather than an expectation at this price.
Second-order effects
- Rivals selling conventional flagships face pressure to justify their premium against a device matching core specs at half the cost, shifting competition toward features OnePlus omits — the kind of gap its own later phones left open, like the 5T's lack of water resistance and MicroSD.
- OnePlus itself sets the ceiling on this strategy: the OnePlus 3 arrived at $400 within a year, showing the cheap-flagship price point was a launch position, not a permanent commitment.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds — $329, then $400, then $500 for the 5T — the 'flagship killer' category erodes from within as OnePlus migrates toward premium pricing, leaving the value tier open to new entrants copying the original playbook.
- Spec-per-dollar stops being a niche pitch and becomes the baseline reviewers use to judge every Android phone, forcing incumbents to compete on the extras — cameras, charging, durability — where discount flagships cut corners.
The trend: OnePlus is iterating the budget-disruptor playbook upward each generation, trading its rock-bottom price anchor for incremental premiums as it converges on mainstream flagship territory.