Just when you think OnePlus has grown up, the company slips back into strange marketing gimmicks. This time around, the Chinese phone maker decided to move ahead of the launch of its newest phone, the OnePlus 10 Pro, in China – don’t even make me make the bizarre decision to launch the phone internationally months later.
At the time of writing, we had three announcements, each with a little more information (the first on the OnePlus 10 Pro design, the next on his Specifications and the third on his Cameras). Teasing is fine, but such information about drip feeding is just annoying.
Trust your product and announce it right away. Tell us why we should care. This attempt to dominate the message cycle, especially during CES 2022, is top OnePlus vanity.
I’ll let you know how things work in this industry in case you don’t already know. Companies offer to send us information in advance as long as we agree to an embargo (or NDA if you prefer). Usually this is just an embargo giving us detailed information about the product so we can have items about it ready for all of you when it is announced.
Under these circumstances, OnePlus chose not one, not two or even three, but four separate embargoes on the OnePlus 10 Pro. This is essentially a request for a journalist to accidentally post something that they shouldn’t be posting. Publications (and sometimes companies themselves) inadvertently break embargoes often enough that many writers and editors are extremely careful to review scheduled release times.
OnePlus going this route frustrated me to no end. Sure, OnePlus gets extra attention every time one of the embargoes is lifted. And of course we feed directly with the intention of creating a hype before the start. I totally understand why OnePlus did this, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. Nor does it mean that the press should not admonish the company for this behavior.
From the days of the old to try to steal Samsung’s thunder At the final round of the foldables, OnePlus refuses to grow up. It likes to act like the aspiring outsider it once was, but that’s no longer the case. OnePlus is a major player in the smartphone market, especially in its home country and India. I wouldn’t excuse this behavior (as if it would ever happen) to Samsung, Xiaomi, or Apple for this behavior.
And even if OnePlus were still the small phone maker that could, I would still denounce this behavior. This is very much a short-term win-win situation. OnePlus may enjoy the attention it craves now, but what if the next time it tries to generate some hype? There are only so many people, media, or consumers willing to tolerate.
So, OnePlus, stick with the phone’s announcement. We’ll all be better off. Thank you.
