China is one of the top countries that produce an amount of smartphones in different brands each year, and because of this, it became difficult for Chinese manufacturers to sustain their products in the market.
OnePlus, a China-based company that is now known for developing Android smartphones that is functional, efficient but also budget friendly, has recently made its way in the U.S. market. Because of their sudden success in creating top-notch smartphones that has the edge and could compete with the staple smart phone brands, the company considered to develop an additional product for their brand - a smartwatch.
This rumor about OnePlus creating a smartwatch has been circling since 2013, and in 2014, leaked pictures of the alleged OnePlus smartwatch came up. Recently, OnePlus CEO Pete Lau confirmed that the company is in the middle of developing a smartwatch but decided to postpone it and just continue focusing on enhancing their smartphones.
According to Slashgear, the company was almost finished with the smartwatch when they decided to scrap the idea and stop developing it. One concern that the company considered is the fact that smartwatch market is already pretty crowded, and according to Lau, smartwatch market is considered as a "cruel market" that the company would not want to take part in.
During Lau's recent interview with The Wall street Journal, he explained that the decision of postponing the creation of a OnePlus smartwatch is the right decision for now, and he stated that the company does not want to lose its focus in creating one of the best smartphones that are also budget friendly.
Lau added that they would rather fund on enhancing their phones instead of venturing in new territories, such as developing a smartwatch that could potentially divert the company's focus. Lau stated "To use a Chinese saying, it's like Chinese smartphone makers are competing to see who can take their pants off first."
For Lau, it is better for OnePlus to emerge and be known for creating phones that could go head-to-head with other top brands, and he believes that it is more efficient for the company to stick with phones as of now.