Yesterday, Marques Brownlee published a YouTube video having a conversation with Carl Pei, Co-founder, and Director at OnePlus revealing the design of OnePlus Nord set to launch on 21 July. Although OnePlus never seemed to care about keeping its upcoming device a secret, Pei came upfront stating that the company didn’t really want to experiment with an L-shaped squared camera module, hence eventually settling down with the traditional design language.
Continuing with the interview, Pei was evidently showing off the true wireless OnePlus Buds to discuss on how much do smartphones actually cost, covering topics including the meaning the Nord, the cost of NFC/IP rating/battery/display/headphone jack, and the OnePlus Nord design.
Pei discussed “the true manufacturing costs” pointing out materials (raw components) bills just to be a small fraction of the actual cost. He actually gave us some numbers leaving out on the operational costs. OnePlus has to spend around $4 for the NFC and around $15 for the IP resistance. He even mentioned the OnePlus Nord missing out on the IP-rating even with dust and water-resistance, considering the fact that the device is not meant for “extreme use cases.”
He further added, “an AMOLED screen is up to two times more expensive than an LCD display. But it depends on a lot of other factors as well. For instance, if you want a curved display, it costs even more because they are more prone to error during the manufacturing process, so the yield rate gets lower hence the more expensive product. As per displays are concerned, they are a lot about volume so now that 90Hz displays have become really that drives the volume up and price down.”
Pei even said that the headphone jack doesn’t cost that much in the bill of materials but mainly due to the mechanical or the hardware design of the phone taking up additional space that otherwise could be used for other things such as a battery.
We are not sure how the “highly limited beta program” will actually work for selective people in North America. However, OnePlus returning to a price tag below $500 could mean an increase in the number of consumers that somehow can’t help themselves from wanting an OnePlus device.
