We want to make the best Android flagship phone: OnePlus CEO Pete Lau

Pete Lau lounges comfortably in the briefing room. It's the biggest launch by OnePlus, the company he cofounded, and three years on, the Chinese smartphone maker still has a lot to prove.

Lau is hoping the new OnePlus 5 will follow the path of the OnePlus 3 and 3T, which were big successes in the premium smartphone segment.

OnePlus is based in Shenzhen but India is one of its three most important markets, the others being Europe and the US. Many may have seen the ad blitz after the company recently signed on a bunch of brand ambassadors, including superstar Amitabh Bachchan.

It's been a pretty rapid rise for a 'small' company that's only three years old. It's also no secret that OnePlus it has close ties with Oppo, one of the largest phone makers in the world. Lau and co-founder Carl Pei were employees of Oppo, which along with OnePlus, is wholly owned by BKK Electronics.

Part of the company's success can be attributed to the fan following OnePlus has been able to create. For the OnePlus 5 launch, fans actually paid for seats. Their only reward?

Some merchandise, to be able to see the launch live and to be among the first to own OnePlus 5.

With a one-device strategy, some say it becomes a make-or-break situation ­ there's no second product to fall back on if the first one is not successful. That doesn't seem to be a problem for Lau, who is also CEO of OnePlus. "It actually makes things simpler because we have only one product," said Lau. "If you have too many products, there's a chance that quality will suffer."

A common criticism of the brand is that prices have increased steadily, from the OnePlus One to the OnePlus 5, which has started retai ling at Rs 32,999. "We start out by making the best Android flagship phone. So we don't decide a price and build to it," said Lau. As is the case with most successful companies, there have been rumours about OnePlus and leaks of its devices.

Most recently, there were allegations of 'benchmark rigging.' XDA Developers and others accused OnePlus of artificially inflating benchmark scores. They said OnePlus devices sense if a software benchmark test is being run and kicks the CPU into high gear to extract maximum performance. Their contention is that it will not run that way in day-to-day usage.

"The philosophy of our company is that we will never lie whether to the media or to our users. This issue is being interpreted differently. Benchmarks are supposed to show you the maximum performance that hardware can offer and we're showcasing that allowing it to happen. In fact, it also shows you that our hardware can sustain max performance levels without overheating thanks t o better thermal management - this has real world implications," said Lau.

The company, which retails only online through Amazon and its own portal, plans to set up experience stores in India to allow prospective users to get a touch and feel of its devices."I'm actually going to scout for some locations in Mumbai right now," said Lau."More will come later."

Source: We want to make the best Android flagship phone: OnePlus CEO Pete Lau