OnePlus has always argued that the invite system was necessary to control demand for its phones. Co-founder Carl Pei says it stopped the company from building too many handsets, which could have sat unsold in a warehouse somewhere. Unlike Amazon, which can easily take the loss on some unwanted Fire phones, OnePlus had to be careful with its supply chain. "The invite system allowed us to scale our operations and manage our risks to help us grow more sustainably," he explains in a forum post.

"Invites are gone forever from future OnePlus product launches."

Two years later, much has changed. OnePlus is no longer a fledgling brand with few fans and zero reputation. It's delivered three, mostly excellent phones and has built a strong, loyal fanbase that crave new announcements. With the OnePlus 3, the company is finally ready to sell a phone like a conventional OEM. How that will affect its image -- and the hype associated with each product release -- remains to be seen, however.