OnePlus has a smartwatch design but will not produce it to focus on smartphones

Chinese smartphone manufacturer OnePlus, which is set to release the OnePlus 3 soon, has a smartwatch design ready, but it is not keen to develop it as it wants to focus on smartphones, revealed company co-founder and chief executive Peter Lau. Since 2015, there was news that OnePlus is developing a smartwatch like its other Chinese counterparts as Huawei but it seems now the company will not work on the device yet.

"We had completed the design but we still decided to scrap it. We have to be focused. It was a matter of survival of the fittest, and adding a possibly weak 'me too' product into the otherwise strong OnePlus lineup would expose the company to a cruel market," said Lau at the Converge conference in Hong Kong.

Lau is of the opinion that OnePlus has so far built a niche in the high-end smartphone market by managing to offer their quality handsets at affordable prices. According to him, the company's focus needs to be on that area specifically rather than treading into unknown territories for now.

The company does sell some accessories, such as portable chargers and earphones, but is largely focused on the smartphone business. Although OnePlus has released a VR headset called VR Loop headset ahead of the OnePlus 3 launch, it doesn't seem too obsessed with the technology yet compared to other tech giants.

A major reason why OnePlus wants to focus on the phone business is because compared to its Chinese counterparts like Xiaomi, OnePlus' presence in the US and European market is very strong. With the Chinese market being saturated with domestic brands, OnePlus has a huge advantage in bringing their phones to the western markets and directly compete with the Apple and Samsung.

Another significant reason why Lau may think it is in the interest of the company to focus on the smartphone biz is because the last flagship from the company, the OnePlus 2 did not manage to sell as the first device from the firm, the OnePlus One. In fact, OnePlus One still remains the most popular handset of the company even though the OnePlus 2 and OnePlus X have more advanced specifications on them. With OnePlus 3 the company hopes to gain back the title to "Flagship Killer" which was given to it when it launched the OnePlus One.