The OnePlus Watch 3‘s launch has been anything but smooth so far. Announced in February, it immediately went up for pre-order with a February 25 shipping date, but its release then got derailed by the “Meda in China” typo on the back.
OnePlus took a few weeks to fix that error and then it started offering the watch in the US again earlier this month, but for the ridiculous new price of $499.99 (vs. $329.99 when it was announced). We assumed this was OnePlus hedging against US tariffs on Chinese goods.
A few weeks have now passed and it seems like OnePlus hasn’t sold too many units of the Watch 3 in the US. And so, it’s now back with the device’s third price – $349.99. That’s still a $20 hike compared to what was initially announced, but of course it’s much, much more palatable for a lot of people than $499.99 was ever going to be.
The company’s spokesperson, Spencer Blank, told The Verge that the earlier increase in price was due to “current market conditions”, but now upon “further evaluation” and with some supply chain adjustments, it’s able to drop the price back down almost to its original level. Blank added that $349.99 is the “final MSRP price and will not be changed going forward”.
If you’ve paid $499.99 for it recently, OnePlus will reach out to you and refund you $150, which is a very nice gesture to make in a very murky political environment.