BBC Click was given access to smartphone manufacturer OnePlus’ factory in Shenzhen, China, to take a look at how the firm’s new 5T handset is made. Speaking to the BBC, CEO Carl Pei said:
“Being in Shenzhen, we have access to the entire ecosystem—all the suppliers are here. We can have a new idea on Tuesday and see a new prototype on Thursday for a design.”
Staff at the factory are given a two-hour lunch break and a ten-minute nap in the afternoon to cope with the heavy workload. The 5T production line is operated largely by humans, with little-to-no automation involved.
Each production line can make up to 90 smartphones per hour. Prototypes are stress-tested and considered strong enough for use once 70% survive the process.
The first two generations of OnePlus smartphones were sold by invitation only. Pei went on to explain the reasons behind this unusual decision.
“Being a brand new company and making such a complicated product as a smartphone, and being based here, we didn’t really have the opportunity to test the product in all the countries where we sold it, and adding to that, we didn’t know how many phones to make.
If you end up having too many smartphones in your warehouse which you can’t sell, it’s over”.
You can watch the full video on the BBC Click website.
