Following the once Great Britain’s exit from the EU it was inevitable that trade and costs of goods would be considerably affected by changes in the economy brought about as the result of the Brexit campaign gaining the deciding vote. As tech aficionados, some of our favourite brands will now be forced to consider what impact this has on doing business with the UK and one of the first companies to address this is OnePlus.
OnePlus has honestly and openly released a statement about the future of its brand on the British market, and it has choose to remain – however, price rises on future products are more than likely to be expected.
The statement reads:
Dear friends,
OnePlus is a global company with fans across the world. The UK is one of the most important markets for OnePlus. So given the uncertainty following the unexpected Brexit developments, we wanted to explain how this might affect our business in the near future.
We’ve always strived to create the best product and deliver them to customers at a reasonable price. However, the worrying downward trend of the GBP may make it difficult to maintain our current pricing structure in the UK. Our margins have always been thin, and our expenses are mainly in USD. This being the case, sudden drops such as the one that the Pound has recently experienced could have a direct impact on our prices.
We’re telling you this now because we don’t want you to be blindsided. If you’re thinking of buying, we recommend doing so sooner rather than later. However, if a price change comes to pass, it will not be a decision that we take lightly. We have only had to increase prices once before, when the Euro hit a nine-year low against the dollar at the beginning of 2015, and we did so reluctantly. Currency fluctuations are not your fault, nor our fault; but if we sell at a loss, the simple fact is that there won’t be a OnePlus in the future.
By no means are we worried about our business in the UK, Europe or globally. We’re confident that the OnePlus 3 is one of the best phones out there, and it’s our most successful product ever. The fact that we significantly increased lifecycle volume forecast, our orders to suppliers, and still sold out completely within hours of our launch proves that we’re not the only ones that think this way. Hundreds of you came out to see us at the recent pop-up store in London, and thousands more visited our pop-ups around the world. We’re proud of the progress we’ve made together with you over the past two years and a half years.
Whatever happens with our prices in the UK, it won’t come out of the blue. We’ll try as best we can to keep you informed, when we know more, we’ll be sure give you several days of notice.
We have to say we really like the OnePlus brand and count ourselves amongst their fans. This announcement is completely understandable and we respect the hell out of the decision to make this statement and allowing buyers the time to let the news sink in, not to mention being totally upfront about it. Fair play, OnePlus.
Source: OnePlus Commnunity