Mobile carriers have been using installment plans to sell mobile phones for years now, so this concept isn’t anything new
True, and now... carriers have decided to just lease the devices instead of selling them in the past year.
but OnePlus’ installment program does have one major advantage: Phones purchased through OnePlus on the installment plan are not restricted to any one carrier, so users are free to switch to a competing mobile service while still paying for the phone.
This is great... in theory... as carriers (looking at you SPRINT) have reserved the right to not accept phones that haven't been tested on their networks, by them. (Yeah, that means your flagship model from a competing carrier, even if it is carrier unlocked, won't be accepted by your carrier.)
I just hope these OnePlus phones aren't blacklisted by carriers in this fashion. We need more competition.