This week, OnePlus - mavericks of the Android world - announced their new trade-in scheme. Not a bad idea, you might think: it certainly worked well for Phones 4U. Ahem.
However, they’re not accepting just any trade-ins, oh no. You’re not encouraged to give back your old OnePlus One, or perhaps your outdated HTC One M8 in exchange for a OnePlus Two. No, OnePlus want your brand new, shiny, pricey Samsung flagship.
Let’s have a look at those phones, shall we?
We don’t have the Galaxy Note 5 in the UK, but the US price converted to pounds comes out at £477.
The Samsung Galaxy S6 currently costs £479 for the lowest-level model.
The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge starts from £549.
And the S6 Edge+ is yours from £629 upwards.
The 16GB OnePlus Two costs £239.
In essence, OnePlus are asking you to trade in an iPad for a Tesco Hudl. A Ferrari for a Fiesta. Or Neil Godwin’s Armani jacket for David Brent’s Sergio Georgini number.
This is madness. But it’s not the first time OnePlus have come up with a marketing campaign so ill-judged, it makes you wonder what they’re smoking. Last year, the Chinese manufacturer held a competition called ‘Ladies First‘ which asked women to draw the OnePlus logo on their bodies, post it to the forums and try to get the most Likes from thirsty dudes.
It did not go down well.
To add insult to injury, the ‘trade-in scheme’ isn’t even that. It’s another competition. So only 50 people who tweet about the scheme (with their snarky hashtag #TakeTheEdgeOff) will get the ‘chance’ to trade their awesome phone for a lesser handset. Woohoo.
The one upside of this whole thing is that OnePlus have at least learnt a bit about PR from the Ladies First debacle, and declared that the 50 surrendered Samsungs will go to a medical charity called Hope Phones. But then again, if OnePlus think the S6 is so bad, isn’t it a bit disingenuous to say “hey, give your shit phone to people in need?”
Back to the drawing board, OnePlus.
Update due to internet rage: I actually have a OnePlus Two and a Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+. So for all the ragey dudes telling me you can’t compare the two phones purely on price because the OnePlus Two is a “2016 flagship killer,” I say this: ahahahahaha.
Seriously, the only way I’d swap my Edge+ for a OnePlus Two is if the former got run over by a steamroller. And even then I’d think twice. K?
Main image: OnePlus
Hat tip: Android Authority