OnePlus has put a lot of power behind its message of ’Never Settle’. This worked well with the early handsets which made some daring choices to stand out against the handsets of the time (notably the Samsung Galaxy S5 and the Apple iPhone 5S) But as the smartphone industry grows more commoditized, the specifications and the components used in flagships become more homogenized, and OnePlus’ hardware choices are growing closer to the establishment.
That needs to be balanced with the growth of OnePlus. Much as it will continue to push itself as the James Dean of smartphones (especially now it has US carrier support with T-Mobile) and will continue to push itself as an edgy outsider, it is part of the mainstream fabric of the smartphone world. Companies do need to evolve as they grow, and the OnePlus 6T should rightly be seen through that lens.