OnePlus One smartphone price hiked by almost 20% in the eurozone, falling currency value blamed

China-headquartered smartphone maker OnePlus has announced a price hike for its popular One smartphone in Europe, citing the falling value of the euro as the root cause.

The new price in the so-called eurozone markets, which amounts to 19 countries that use the euro as their currency, will be €299 ($318) for the 16GB white version, and €349 ($371) for the 64GB black incarnation. The previous prices were €269 ($286) and €299 ($318) respectively, which basically means that OnePlus has raised the price of its most expensive version by almost 20 percent.

Today’s news comes a little more than a week after OnePlus launched the One in 16 more European countries, almost doubling its launch markets globally and effectively meaning it’s now available across the whole of the European Union.

OnePlus has made a lot of headlines over the past year for its first (and thus far only) device — the OnePlus One has always been touted as a premium-spec device with low price-point. But it hasn’t always been easy to get ahold of, with the company using an invite-only system and a single 24-hour period each week when it’s open for anyone to purchase.

The company says it has tried to keep its margins low in the euro countries, but claims that these “razor-thin margins” have been turning into “zero” margins. The statement reads:

As you may know, the euro is quite unstable at the moment. Last year, many other companies insured themselves against this volatility by launching devices with higher prices in Europe than in other markets. This is something that we opted not to do, as we are committed to maintaining razor-thin margins in order to give the most value back to our fans. Unfortunately, as the value of the euro continued to drop, our razor-thin margins began to turn into 0 margins. Due to the current value of the euro, we are now selling devices at a loss in the EU.

OnePlus says that its new pricing will come into effect from March 25, so you have another week to grab one of these phones at up to €50 cheaper. The company adds that accessories won’t be affected.

Yesterday we reported that OnePlus had revealed that its users would finally receive the Android 5.0 Lollipop update (CyanogenMod), as well as its new custom-built OxygenOS ROM, by the end of March. The follow-up to the One — which is somewhat predictably called the “Two” — is expected to launch later this year.