Why there will be no OnePlus 4
5.6.2017
Translation: machine translated
Bit of a shock at the top of the title, eh? Of course, the OnePlus 3T will have a successor, but not under the name OnePlus 4. You can read about what's behind the name change here.
The Chinese manufacturer OnePlus has done quite well in the counting so far. The OnePlus One was followed by the OnePlus 2, then the OnePlus 3, with the OnePlus X and the 3T somewhere in between. So logically, the OnePlus 4 follows now. For comparison, Microsoft somehow counts like this: 1, 2, 3, 95, NT, 98, 2000, ME, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10.
"They're not making a OnePlus 4," product manager Dario Pellanda tells me during a conversation about everything and nothing.
Are they crazy at OnePlus? Because the OnePlus 3T, the manufacturer's latest model, has been extremely well received in reviews and, according to the trade press after analysing the still very young company, OnePlus made 300 million in profits in 2014 alone. The reason: high performance in a phone at a good price.
And they're supposed to have blown it now? Are they broke again?
"The next phone will be called OnePlus 5," adds Dario.
"That's funny," Louis Schwendimann, product manager for smartwatches and wearables, interjects, "Garmin didn't make a Fenix 4 either, but went straight from the Fenix 3 to the Fenix 5". Louis is sitting opposite Dario and has been listening in.
So why not model number 4?
I'm beginning to realise. The reason most likely comes from China. Because the Middle Kingdom doesn't like the number 4. Not at all.
Remember the thing with the number 8? The four is the complete opposite of that.
The four brings death
OnePlus is a manufacturer from China, and Garmin is obviously also targeting the Chinese market. Because the number philosophy with the omission of the four speaks a clear language, even if it is not really understandable for us Westerners. We, as the Cantonese say so beautifully, Gwai lo - 鬼佬, a combination of the word for "ghost" and "normal guy", but often translated as "foreign devil" - understand Garmin.The people who say this simply don't understand and may risk life and limb if we just let things with a four on them into our lives.
Because the number 4, written 四 - sì in Chinese, sounds like 死 - sǐ. And 死 means "dead". The strange-looking diacritical marks on the I indicate the stress in pinyin, the phonetic transcription of the characters in the Hanzì alphabet that is compatible with the West. In Chinese, it depends on the emphasis whether you are wishing someone a good day or cursing their ancestors. Okay, that might be a slightly exaggerated example, but there is such an example with food and faeces.
The problem comes in the spoken language. Because the Chinese, just like us Gwai lo, mumble, mumble and mumble, swallow parts of words and have dialects. That's why the Chinese sometimes don't take the stress so seriously in everyday spoken language. That's why 四 can quickly sound like 死.
In China, people don't talk about death. Why? Because otherwise death would get the idea to drop by. Nobody wants that. Now imagine that your phone number has a 4 in it and you have to tell other people your number every now and then. A visit from death is as good as pre-programmed.
Therefore: Better no 四. Better no Fenix 4. Better no OnePlus 4.
What we know about the OnePlus 5
The fourth flagship from OnePlus will be called the OnePlus 5. But that's not all. We know even more, from confirmed leaks and from OnePlus CEO Pete Lau himself.
- Pete Lau has stated on the Chinese microblogging platform Weibo that the OnePlus 5 will be "the slimmest flagship". As the Chinese word translated here as "slim" can only be translated meaningfully, it is not entirely clear what he means by this
- The OnePlus 5 will be equipped with a Snapdragon 835. The processor is currently the most powerful on the market
We can make further assumptions:
- The display will have a 5.5" screen diagonal
- The screen resolution will be 1440x2560 pixels
- It will have 64 GB of internal memory
- A memory card slot will allow up to 64 GB of additional memory
It will probably look quite ordinary, with the exception of the back plate, which will no longer be smooth.
We do not yet know anything about availability in Switzerland, as OnePlus supplies the Chinese market first according to its corporate strategy and Switzerland is left behind. We'll stay on the ball.
But I can give you a tip from my own experience. If you have a OnePlus 3, I recommend that you buy a Dash Charger. Dash Charging is the brand's Quick Charge and your mobile charges faster.
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A little note: The terrifying comrade in the main image on this page is Yama, Buddhist god of death. He always appears when a life turns into death. He symbolises the transience of all existence. He rules over the hells and has its origins in Hinduism, but was adopted by the Buddhists. <p
Journalist. Author. Hacker. A storyteller searching for boundaries, secrets and taboos – putting the world to paper. Not because I can but because I can’t not.
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