Carl Pei

Some of you will know that OnePlus co-founder Pete Lau recently admitted the company had been working on a OnePlus smartwatch last year but, in the face of a “cruel market”, decided to scrap it. OnePlus, perhaps wisely, chose to concentrate their efforts on smartphones instead. But that hasn’t stopped co-founder Carl Pei from sharing design sketches of the watch that never was on Twitter.

In the tweet, Pei says “what could have been but will never be”, indicating there won’t be a OnePlus smartwatch anytime soon either. The sketches are from last year and show several designs for a circular smartwatch that pops off the band for easy band-swapping.

What could have been but never will be. Sketches circa 2015. #throwback pic.twitter.com/5zKuSdDiv0 — Carl Pei (@getpeid) June 29, 2016

The design are definitely unique and – if they had been completed in black sandstone – would have resulted in a very recognizable wearable. But considering the general difficulties affecting smartphone makers globally right now, pulling back to focus on a core business is the smarter move. As many have noted with the OnePlus 3, OnePlus really seems to have matured.

What do you think of OnePlus’ smartwatch designs? Did they make the right call on killing it?