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My nephew asked me what my phone was. I said a OnePlus 7 Pro. He said "is that a Samsung?" My anecdote suggests there is only iPhone and Samsung that people cho

My nephew asked me what my phone was. I said a OnePlus 7 Pro. He said "is that a Samsung?" My anecdote suggests there is only iPhone and Samsung that people choose between. Of course many know there are other options, but that seems like the mindset of the masses.

mdiesel 6y ago
+1 for OnePlus. I started years back on the 2, upgraded more recently to the 6T. Will take a lot of convincing for me to even think about anyone else. Same experience though, people have either heard of it and rave about it, or ask who makes it.
- FearlessNebula 6y ago
  Unfortunately OnePlus hasn't been releasing software updates for their new phones
  - neogodless 6y ago
    My understanding is that OxygenOS 11 took longer than expected but has been announced as far back as the 7. It was available for the 8/8T a month ago. Still I am holding off on it as there are too many issues on various forums. I don't think there's anything I'm missing from Android 11 (yet.)
    - enragedcacti 6y ago
      They've actually promised OxygenOS 11 all the way back to the 6. That said, rumors are that we won't get even a BETA until August meaning it will be more than a year after AOSP release and be out of date before it even ships :(
  - moonbug 6y ago
    that's wrong. They've just made their latest release - 10.3.9 - and it's supported on all models back to the 6.
- Jemm 6y ago
  I'm still using my OnePlus One. Damn thing won't die.
- Causality1 6y ago
  Oneplus just isn't the same anymore in my opinion. My two year old OnePlus 6 launched at $530 with flagship specs and a headphone jack. The 9 starts at $730 for the same screen resolution, same storage, and it even loses the headphone jack and OIS.
- scrollaway 6y ago
  Hello fellow 6T owner. I got it just about three years back, the battery is in perfect shape and the phone doesn't have a scratch on it. If I take off the protection, it can genuinely pass off as new. I'm never getting a phone without an armor again. That thing has fallen so many times on hard concrete and is completely untouched.
- asah 6y ago
  serious q: OnePlus looks *great* but I'm concerned about the Chinese government and the de facto cyberwar with the US. Example: I have security sensitive US clients, and I'd be concerned that (in the future, let alone present) I'd be labeled a security risk for carrying a "chinese cellphone." How do you mitigate this concern? (serious replies only please)
  - eertami 6y ago
    Most people don't recognise what cell phone someone has, and I've never had a conversation organically turn to phone models unless someone is buying a new one. I think if you put a case on it, the make/model of your phone will be brought up exactly 0 times in life. Small aside: I used a Oneplus X for more than 5 years, but these days I'm not sure what positives OP have over other manufacturers. Early phones were great value but the recent releases just seem like other flagships. And the Nord for my usage is just a Pixel 4a but worse.
  - azinman2 6y ago
    If this is a real concern then why not pay attention to it? I believe Apple has the best track record in security and not embedding Chinese gov spyware.
  - unknown2374 6y ago
    This is the exact same reason I can't go for a OnePlus myself. I would look elsewhere. edit: even if you flash the phone with open-source ROMs and firmware, the closed-nature of cellphones in general make it nigh impossible to know what hardware backdoors the manufacturers are forced to put in.
  - _carbyau_ 6y ago
    I don't care for a flagship phone. I ended up with a Nokia. While I assume they have it manufactured in China like Apple and the rest of the world it seems, I hope their quality assurance is Europe based. Honestly though, I will watch the answers here.
- oriolid 6y ago
  OnePlus seems to have same kind of marketing aura as Samsung. I remember when they first came out and my co-workers were bragging about the great features OnePlus had. It turned out that Nexus 5 had all the same stuff.
  - nucleardog 6y ago
    OnePlus was great when they hit the market because their phones had all the same stuff... but for cheaper to significantly cheaper. They were never really sold as competing with a Nexus 5, and most people weren't buying a Nexus 5. (Even so, it was still ~20% cheaper.) People were looking at a OPO against a Galaxy S4/S5 and the other flagships that were all more than twice the price. It was "marketing aura" in the sense that they took a phone that would have normally only appealed to developers/phone geeks and managed to market it to the masses to some extent. But it wasn't _just_ marketing aura just because there was one other phone on the market that could compete with it. It was a legitimately good offering at the time when a Samsung cost twice as much and their offerings in that price range had seen so little care and attention as to be barely functional in many ways.
- ck425 6y ago
  I loved my OnePlus One. But then when I went to replace it years later they'd scraped the headphone jack.
gmadsen 6y ago
if seems like all collection of social structures eventually coalesce into a duopoly.
- SkyBelow 6y ago
  It is a legit concern of mine. I've been asked for phone recommendations from family as well, but they only focus on the main brands with a strong preference for Apple as the status symbol and Samsung as the slightly less pricey option for people who want a phone they can do a bit more with (which is to say they see Samsung as the phone I like because it isn't locked down). Even after explaining there is more to Android than just Samsung they don't seem to care because their view seems to be based on what advertisements they watch. I'm afraid too much critical thinking has been off loaded to corporations through advertisement. Sure, it is just a phone, but for many of these people the $1k price tag is a major part of their disposable income and I don't think enough thought is being given to the far cheaper alternatives. Not only has it been reduced to two options, the two options have become two of the most expensive options. I don't think this was by chance.
  - pdimitar 6y ago
    Most non-technical people I know opt for iPhones because they know they can use them for 5-6 years with 1-2 battery swaps (that costs 30 EUR where I live). And for display quality. I keep hearing this adage of "iPhone as a status symbol" and I have legitimately never in my life seen it. Only ever saw people on the internet talking about it. An anecdotal data point for you, if it's useful.
    - nopato 6y ago
      Let me give you some perspective. It might not be a status symbol in the US and Europe but in the rest of the world it definitely is. I’ve lived in the uk for a while and no one cared that was wearing an iPhone. But as soon as I moved back to my home country everyone thinks I’m rich. And they’re right to think this way as the price of iPhones in my country is completely absurd. Everyone thinks an 800 pounds phone is expensive? Imagine if you had to pay almost double of that. In a country that receives less than 200 hundred pounds of monthly minimum wage. I would never buy an iPhone while living here. It makes no sense unless you really want it as a status symbol.

mdiesel 6y ago

+1 for OnePlus. I started years back on the 2, upgraded more recently to the 6T. Will take a lot of convincing for me to even think about anyone else. Same experience though, people have either heard of it and rave about it, or ask who makes it.

FearlessNebula 6y ago
Unfortunately OnePlus hasn't been releasing software updates for their new phones
- neogodless 6y ago
  My understanding is that OxygenOS 11 took longer than expected but has been announced as far back as the 7. It was available for the 8/8T a month ago. Still I am holding off on it as there are too many issues on various forums. I don't think there's anything I'm missing from Android 11 (yet.)
  - enragedcacti 6y ago
    They've actually promised OxygenOS 11 all the way back to the 6. That said, rumors are that we won't get even a BETA until August meaning it will be more than a year after AOSP release and be out of date before it even ships :(
- moonbug 6y ago
  that's wrong. They've just made their latest release - 10.3.9 - and it's supported on all models back to the 6.
Jemm 6y ago
I'm still using my OnePlus One. Damn thing won't die.
Causality1 6y ago
Oneplus just isn't the same anymore in my opinion. My two year old OnePlus 6 launched at $530 with flagship specs and a headphone jack. The 9 starts at $730 for the same screen resolution, same storage, and it even loses the headphone jack and OIS.
scrollaway 6y ago
Hello fellow 6T owner. I got it just about three years back, the battery is in perfect shape and the phone doesn't have a scratch on it. If I take off the protection, it can genuinely pass off as new. I'm never getting a phone without an armor again. That thing has fallen so many times on hard concrete and is completely untouched.
asah 6y ago
serious q: OnePlus looks *great* but I'm concerned about the Chinese government and the de facto cyberwar with the US. Example: I have security sensitive US clients, and I'd be concerned that (in the future, let alone present) I'd be labeled a security risk for carrying a "chinese cellphone." How do you mitigate this concern? (serious replies only please)
- eertami 6y ago
  Most people don't recognise what cell phone someone has, and I've never had a conversation organically turn to phone models unless someone is buying a new one. I think if you put a case on it, the make/model of your phone will be brought up exactly 0 times in life. Small aside: I used a Oneplus X for more than 5 years, but these days I'm not sure what positives OP have over other manufacturers. Early phones were great value but the recent releases just seem like other flagships. And the Nord for my usage is just a Pixel 4a but worse.
- azinman2 6y ago
  If this is a real concern then why not pay attention to it? I believe Apple has the best track record in security and not embedding Chinese gov spyware.
- unknown2374 6y ago
  This is the exact same reason I can't go for a OnePlus myself. I would look elsewhere. edit: even if you flash the phone with open-source ROMs and firmware, the closed-nature of cellphones in general make it nigh impossible to know what hardware backdoors the manufacturers are forced to put in.
- _carbyau_ 6y ago
  I don't care for a flagship phone. I ended up with a Nokia. While I assume they have it manufactured in China like Apple and the rest of the world it seems, I hope their quality assurance is Europe based. Honestly though, I will watch the answers here.
oriolid 6y ago
OnePlus seems to have same kind of marketing aura as Samsung. I remember when they first came out and my co-workers were bragging about the great features OnePlus had. It turned out that Nexus 5 had all the same stuff.
- nucleardog 6y ago
  OnePlus was great when they hit the market because their phones had all the same stuff... but for cheaper to significantly cheaper. They were never really sold as competing with a Nexus 5, and most people weren't buying a Nexus 5. (Even so, it was still ~20% cheaper.) People were looking at a OPO against a Galaxy S4/S5 and the other flagships that were all more than twice the price. It was "marketing aura" in the sense that they took a phone that would have normally only appealed to developers/phone geeks and managed to market it to the masses to some extent. But it wasn't _just_ marketing aura just because there was one other phone on the market that could compete with it. It was a legitimately good offering at the time when a Samsung cost twice as much and their offerings in that price range had seen so little care and attention as to be barely functional in many ways.
ck425 6y ago
I loved my OnePlus One. But then when I went to replace it years later they'd scraped the headphone jack.

gmadsen 6y ago

if seems like all collection of social structures eventually coalesce into a duopoly.

SkyBelow 6y ago
It is a legit concern of mine. I've been asked for phone recommendations from family as well, but they only focus on the main brands with a strong preference for Apple as the status symbol and Samsung as the slightly less pricey option for people who want a phone they can do a bit more with (which is to say they see Samsung as the phone I like because it isn't locked down). Even after explaining there is more to Android than just Samsung they don't seem to care because their view seems to be based on what advertisements they watch. I'm afraid too much critical thinking has been off loaded to corporations through advertisement. Sure, it is just a phone, but for many of these people the $1k price tag is a major part of their disposable income and I don't think enough thought is being given to the far cheaper alternatives. Not only has it been reduced to two options, the two options have become two of the most expensive options. I don't think this was by chance.
- pdimitar 6y ago
  Most non-technical people I know opt for iPhones because they know they can use them for 5-6 years with 1-2 battery swaps (that costs 30 EUR where I live). And for display quality. I keep hearing this adage of "iPhone as a status symbol" and I have legitimately never in my life seen it. Only ever saw people on the internet talking about it. An anecdotal data point for you, if it's useful.
  - nopato 6y ago
    Let me give you some perspective. It might not be a status symbol in the US and Europe but in the rest of the world it definitely is. I’ve lived in the uk for a while and no one cared that was wearing an iPhone. But as soon as I moved back to my home country everyone thinks I’m rich. And they’re right to think this way as the price of iPhones in my country is completely absurd. Everyone thinks an 800 pounds phone is expensive? Imagine if you had to pay almost double of that. In a country that receives less than 200 hundred pounds of monthly minimum wage. I would never buy an iPhone while living here. It makes no sense unless you really want it as a status symbol.