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The OnePlus 6T will launch in October – on T-Mobile

The OnePlus 6T will launch in October with its usual online sales. But it will also be sold in T-Mobile stores for the first time.
By
August 17, 2018
OnePlus 6
TL;DR
  • Sources confirm that the OnePlus 6T will launch in October.
  • Not only will the usual global version launch, but T-Mobile will sell its own version of the device, a first for the company.
  • With U.S. carrier support, OnePlus could see a huge jump in sales and brand awareness.

The day has finally come: according to CNET, OnePlus will launch the OnePlus 6T in October via its usual online portal — and also via T-Mobile stores.

This will be the first time ever that someone in America will be able to walk into a carrier storefront and buy a OnePlus device.

We learned a few months ago that OnePlus was currently negotiating partner terms with at least one U.S. carrier, but we didn’t know which one. We assumed it would be either T-Mobile or AT&T, considering no OnePlus devices work on Sprint or Verizon. Now we know that those discussions were with T-Mobile and — so far, anyway — the discussions were successful.

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According to the CNET article, OnePlus isn’t just going to sell the global variant of the OnePlus 6T in T-Mobile stores. Instead, there will be another T-Mobile-specific model that will be optimized for the carrier’s network.

And yes, that will include support for 600mHz bands, otherwise known as band 71.

The only potential roadblock OnePlus faces right now is getting the phone approved by the technical teams at T-Mobile. According to the sources, this approval process is not yet complete and could cause a delay if things don’t work out. However, the worst-case scenario appears to be that the T-Mobile variant would launch sometime after the online global variant, which isn’t such a big deal.

There’s also the question of politics. Since OnePlus is a Chinese brand — and China/U.S. relations are very unstable right now — it could mean political issues could stop the launch. However, OnePlus is such a small company that it might fly under the radar.

With the OnePlus 6T on store shelves in America — offering flagship specs at half the price of other flagships like the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 — OnePlus’ sales could get a serious boost. Studies show that most Americans buy their smartphones from their carrier and nowhere else, so there will be a whole new audience exposed to the OnePlus “Never Settle” ethos.

NEXT: T-Mobile eliminates all hold menus and wait times on service calls