In a recent interview with CNET, OnePlus founder Carl Pei revealed that the OnePlus 3 is expected to launch before the end of Q2 2016. If I were a betting man I'd say we can expect it to be toward the end of that timeframe, which officially ends on June 30, 2016. Pei also mentioned that he hopes the OnePlus 3 will captivate users in the same way the original OnePlus One did, by featuring a new design. Perhaps this is a subtle admission by Pei that the OnePlus 2 was a rather lackluster release.

The interview also addresses the invite process, and while Pei did not say explicitly that there would be no invites this year, he did say that OnePlus is focussed on delivering a better buying experience for consumers. OnePlus also has designs on furthering their reach into the US market in 2016. With the OnePlus X lacking several critical US GSM bands, they will need to make sure there are no such mis-steps with this year's flagship model. Another huge issue with the OnePlus 2 for many US users was the lack of NFC for mobile payments. Hopefully OnePlus will correct this issue as well and give us an unlocked phone to look forward to this year.

I was mostly unimpressed with the OnePlus 2, for several reasons, not the least of which was the arrogant claims made by OnePlus that they never delivered on. I do believe the Oxygen OS software and UI are fantastic and OnePlus still has an opportunity to do well in the unlocked mid-range/premium market if they improve on this. Most of all, I would love to see an end to the hated invite system. Oh, and one more thing, the OnePlus 2 isn't kill a single damn one of the 2016 flagships I've seen so far.

Anyone interested in OnePlus still? Let me know what you think in the comments or on Twitter!