OnePlus will let you buy the 3 almost ten days early, but you won’t be able to see it

Where most of Samsung’s craziness comes from its technologies — be it prototypes, advertising or actual devices — OnePlus is mostly renowned for its controversy. Things such as “Smash The Past” as well as the (now fortunately gone) invite system made their way to the headlines more than once, and the company may be on the verge of repeating itself again…

The OnePlus 3 official unveiling is happening on June 14 (or June 15 in China) through “Loop”, its virtual reality space expressly built to step up the VR launch game (already proposed last year) and offer the “first VR shopping experience” in the world.

Users entering the Loop will in fact be the first able to purchase the device, and to push the idea OnePlus even made its own Gear VR-like headsets, which are arriving to people’s houses right now.

However, maybe driven by the number of leaks the device has already seen, the company is supporting a number of initiatives to have some fans get their hands on the imminent 3 prior to anyone else.

Earlier this week, OnePlus opened “The Lab”, asking fans to write a short, 500-word piece in order to enter a lottery and possibly receive an early copy, asking to then write a review of the device for feedback in return.

However, given that among the hundreds (if not thousands) of applicants only 30 lucky winners will be selected, OnePlus has decided to open a “blind sale” starting June 6, a little less than ten days before the final unveiling.

1000 OnePlus 3 units will go on sale that day — but there is a caveat. Given that the official presentation will still be a few days away, you will have to put your faith in OnePlus (if not the official-looking leaked renders), because the firm does not intend to show you anything more than the box.

No specs will be disclosed either (even though we already know most of them). We expect the device to come in two configurations, which will likely differ only in RAM capacity, like last year: 4GB and 6GB respectively, perhaps with a different internal storage size.

The price for the early OnePlus 3 units will be 2.999 yuan ($455), which perhaps indicates that the device going on sale will be the higher-end model.

However, once the official price is announced (and if it were to be lower) OnePlus is promising that refunds will be issued.

Considering the small time window, we believe it would be preferable to have OnePlus simply selling the device with its final price and avoid the inevitable confusion; but hey, it’s OnePlus we are talking about.

At least you will have a 300 yuan-worth voucher to spend on OnePlus’ website, as well as a 3-month broken screen warranty, so there’s that.

Are you willing to put your faith in OnePlus to get the 3 before anyone else? Let us know in the comments below.