Revealed: The OnePlus fitness tracker that was never meant to be

Devices built by OnePlus are notorious for their scarcity, but you’ve got no hope at all of getting this one.

OnePlus scrapped a fitness tracker that was – TrustedReviews can now reveal – in development as far back as 16 months ago.

The Chinese smartphone maker had plans to launch the device, but eventually scrapped it one month before launch because the company wanted to focus on its “core strengths”.

We were shown a working version of the device as early as October 2014, but the product was never released. It was a slim, grey smartband that had basic health-tracking capabilities.

At the time, we were told the device would likely be sold at manufacturing cost – just like the OnePlus phones – for less than $20.

^{Fibit Alta: Fitbit is the market leader for activity trackers}

This was, it was explained, so that OnePlus could sell high numbers of the device quickly – just like an app – which would create value through scale.

When asked for comment, a OnePlus spokesperson told us: “The reason why it was scrapped was that we want to make sure we focus on our core strengths and making the best products we can.”

We can only speculate as to why the device was actually scrapped. The obvious answer is that because the fitness tracker market is highly saturated, OnePlus may have struggled to scale quickly had the product eventually launched.

Whatever the case, OnePlus tells us it has shelved all plans to peddle a wearable device for the time being.

^{OnePlus’ flagship device, the OnePlus 2}

The company’s current flagship product is the OnePlus 2 smartphone, although its successor – the OnePlus 3 – is expected to launch later this year.

Would you like to have seen a low-priced fitness tracker from OnePlus? Let us know in the comments.