Equation Air: OnePlus drone is about to take off

OnePlus

For several days OnePlus has been teasing us with glimpses of a new device that it says is going to be a "game-changer" - this all links back to comments from co-founder Carl Pei at the start of March hinting that the company was going to start expanding beyond smartphones.

Pei confirmed it's not a smartwatch and it's not a tablet, and until yesterday the clever money seemed to be on some kind of gaming device.

However, the latest word from OnePlus is that it's going to be a drone, and it will go on sale in April.

That's according to a OnePlus engineer who contributed to a Reddit AMA. "It's a drone, the DR-1 and we will start selling it next month," said the employee, who goes by the username devildv on Reddit. An exclusive revelation or a decoy to throw us off the scent? We'll have to wait and see.

Fun and games

OnePlus certainly hasn't been shy about promoting the upcoming device. Based on the hints it's dropped so far, we're definitely looking at some kind of gaming contraption, whether that's a handheld controller or an actual drone (or perhaps both).

"The One was created to disrupt the smartphone world. The Power Bank was born to give our users more options and greater mobility. So, when it came time to think about our next product, we decided on a curveball," reads the forum post announcing the new device.

April has officially been pegged as the month when OnePlus will reveal all. We're also patiently waiting for news on the Chinese company's next smartphone, the OnePlus Two, which should be arriving at some point later this year.

David Nield
Freelance Contributor

Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you'll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.