Kaitlyn Cimino / Android Authority
TL;DR
- The OnePlus Watch 3 has lastly gone on sale within the US, however at a a lot larger worth than had beforehand been introduced.
- Listed at $499.99, it’s $170 greater than anticipated. OnePlus declined the chance to offer any causes for the shock price ticket.
- The watch is made in China, so it’s potential the brand new 145% US tariffs on Chinese language items are behind the last-minute uplift.
After a delayed launch attributable to an unlucky typo, the OnePlus Watch 3 is now formally on sale within the US. However anybody hoping to choose up the brand new Put on OS smartwatch may be doing a double take, because it’s at the moment listed at $499.99. That’s a full $170 greater than the anticipated $329.99 worth OnePlus had beforehand introduced.
At first look, it might be straightforward to imagine that is simply one other error — particularly provided that the Watch 3’s unique launch needed to be pushed again from February to April after early items have been discovered to have “Meda in China” engraved on the again. Nevertheless, the upper OnePlus Watch 3 worth persists till checkout and appears oddly particular to be a typo.
Another excuse we would infer that that is the supposed worth relies on OnePlus’s stance. We contacted the producer to inquire about this discrepancy and obtained the response, “We don’t have any extra remark to share at the moment.” This doesn’t inform us what the reason being, however the model would nearly definitely acknowledge and proper it if it have been a typo.
Whereas it’s hypothesis, a extra seemingly clarification may lie in tariffs. Whereas the Trump administration postponed lots of the larger tariffs yesterday, a steep extra tariff on Chinese language items was enacted, which was confirmed to complete 145% immediately. Because the now-infamous typo confirmed, The OnePlus Watch 3 is manufactured in China. It’s potential that the Watch 3 was given a last-minute worth hike to replicate the additional prices of importing it to the US.
Regardless of the purpose, we will solely hope that this enormous worth uplift is short-term. We’ve been impressed with the wearable in our testing, significantly the superb battery life and engaging Put on OS 5 platform. Nevertheless, a shock $500 price ticket makes it a unique prospect solely and is prone to bitter curiosity — significantly if rival smartwatch manufacturers aren’t additionally compelled to lift costs.
