Today, Sprint announced that it will be selling a 5G phone that"s made by OnePlus, marking the carrier"s fourth 5G device and OnePlus"s first in the United States. The Chinese firm did release a 5G phone earlier this year, but it was exclusive to a carrier in the UK.
It"s unclear if the new phone on Sprint will be the OnePlus 7 Pro, or if it will be something new. In fact, Sprint didn"t provide any information at all regarding the device other than the fact that it"s coming and that it"s made by OnePlus. OnePlus does typically release two flagships per year, so it"s entirely possible that the Sprint 5G phone could be the OnePlus 7T Pro 5G.
"We are proud to join with Sprint to bring an ultra-premium smartphone to their network," said Kyle Kiang, OnePlus chief marketing officer. "As a community-driven company, we are thrilled to tell OnePlus enthusiasts on the Sprint network that the wait is finally over. This is a tremendous opportunity to expose Sprint customers to the award-winning OnePlus brand."
Another thing that"s significant here is that this is the second carrier partnership in the U.S. for OnePlus. Only last fall with the OnePlus 6T, the firm finally began selling a device with T-Mobile, and that partnership continued with the OnePlus 7 Pro. Prior to the 6T, OnePlus smartphones were only available unlocked from the company"s website. With today"s Sprint partnership, it"s another step toward the mainstream.
Sprint is currently operating its 5G network in parts of Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and Kansas City, but it"s also planning to light up 5G in Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix, and Washington D.C. "in the coming weeks", something that the carrier has been saying for more than a few weeks now.