OnePlus teases ‘Back to Basics’ announcement following removal of Cyanogen branding from the One

OnePlus is today teasing an announcement for tomorrow with the tagline “Back to Basics,” but no one really has any idea what the company plans to tell us about. Interestingly, the teaser image that OnePlus posted across its social media profiles (seen above) definitely makes reference to the Breaking Bad title screen, but it’s not clear yet what it might mean.

Also, updated models of the OnePlus One without Cyanogen branding on their back covers have begun shipping…

In case you weren’t aware, OnePlus and Cyanogen had a little but of a falling out late last year. The story is long and complicated, but Micromax launched the Yureka smartphone in India (also sporting Cyanogen), which put OnePlus in a position of their smartphone being banned from sale in India. OnePlus didn’t get much of a heads-up, tensions rose between the two companies, and the rest is history.

Take a look at the new back cover of the OnePlus One, as has been shared on Google+ by Robert Wisz, which no longer sports any kind of Cyanogen branding:

But in this case, it’s probably best to take the company’s word for why this change has occurred. According to a post a couple of weeks ago on the company’s forum, the branding was only removed to “unify and conquer”:

As OnePlus continues to grow and plant its flag worldwide, we’ve also decided to unify and conquer. As such, we have recently altered the back covers of all OnePlus Ones to feature a cleaner and more unified look across all regions. On the Silk White editions, we’ve added a small nub to the back cover—a design feature that helps prevent scratches and wear.

It’s not likely that tomorrow’s announcement is anything huge, and the company has already stated that they’re aiming for Q2 or Q3 of 2015 for the launch of their second generation smartphone. More likely, tomorrow’s announcement could be a move away from Cyanogen for the phone’s default OS—which would likely come paired with the announcement of the company’s own flavor of Android. We do know that the company is working on their own ROM… so maybe it’s time they tell us a little about it?