OnePlus usually launches a brand new phone — or phone series — every six months or so, with recent reports suggesting that the OnePlus 8 series might drop a few months earlier than expected. Some speculated that the new flagship phone will be unveiled in March, given an increase in OnePlus 8 leaks lately. Not to mention that OnePlus has already confirmed one of the signature features of the upcoming flagship, which is a clear sign that an announcement may be imminent.
The coronavirus outbreak, which prompted the GSMA to cancel Mobile World Congress last month, may have impacted OnePlus’s own product launch plans, even though the company had nothing planned for MWC. But OnePlus is now teasing a surprise announcement for March 3rd, and the mystery product doesn’t seem to be a smartphone.
OnePlus took to Twitter to post the following teaser video, asking fans if they can guess what’s coming next:
2020 is the year of surprises. Can you guess what's coming up? pic.twitter.com/EWWi1MEwo0
— OnePlus India (@OnePlus_IN) February 28, 2020
OnePlus 8 would be a fair guess, but there’s nothing in the clip to support this being a phone reveal. Then again, it’s not entirely clear what kind of product the company is teasing. It sure looks like it’s some sort of tool or device component, as OnePlus posted a few images of it on the UK account:
This is cool. pic.twitter.com/M8fJRM5zsR
— OnePlus UK (@OnePlus_UK) February 29, 2020
The UK account also made it clear that the teaser is related to a special project that it teased a few weeks ago, and that product isn’t a phone:
Making progress. 👀 https://t.co/eImxR07Fpu pic.twitter.com/kU2cFRKmxF
— OnePlus UK (@OnePlus_UK) February 28, 2020
Until 2019, OnePlus was only making smartphones. Specifically, it had a spring event followed by a fall announcement, and each event only featured a single phone and accessories for that phone. Last year, the dawn of 5G forced OnePlus to come up with a series of phones for each half of the year, starting with the OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7T. 2019 was also the first year when OnePlus launched a brand new type of product: A smart TV.
With that in mind, there’s no telling what OnePlus might be up to now. Also, regardless of what product OnePlus will unveil on Tuesday, we’re still expecting the OnePlus 8 series to be unveiled soon.
