OnePlus Watch 3 Launches At $499, $170 More Than Promised; Are Trump Tariffs The Reason?

Tech enthusiasts eager to get their hands on the new OnePlus Watch 3 can now finally do so, but not at the price originally announced. The smartwatch, which was expected to retail at $329.99 (around Rs 28,500), has quietly gone on sale for a significantly higher price of $499 (around Rs 43,000). That’s an unexpected increase of $170 (around Rs 14,700).

Multiple Android blogs were quick to spot the sudden price jump, but the company has remained tight-lipped. Usually, tech companies inform the press and long-time customers about any significant changes to pricing. But in this case, OnePlus has provided no prior notice or rationale for the shift.

According to The Verge, a OnePlus spokesperson responded with a brief statement, saying, “We don’t have any additional comment to share at this time.”

Without an official explanation, industry watchers have speculated that the cause may be linked to US import tariffs, particularly those aimed at Chinese-made products.

Under the Trump-era policies still affecting certain imports, these tariffs have reached as high as 145 per cent. While many tech manufacturers say that such duties could eventually lead to higher consumer prices, most have taken a cautious approach. They have chosen either to stockpile products in the US before tariffs took effect or to pause sales entirely.

This makes the OnePlus Watch 3’s price hike one of the most visible examples of tariffs hitting wearable technology.

And unlike companies such as Framework, which temporarily halted some of its sales in the US to manage costs, OnePlus appears to have gone ahead with full sales, but at a significantly higher price point.

According to The Verge report, one reason OnePlus may have missed the opportunity to build inventory ahead of time lay in an unexpected error. The Watch 3 was originally slated for a February 2025 release but was delayed due to a production flaw — one unfixable typo on the back of the device. The engraving mistakenly read ‘Meda in China’ instead of ‘Made in China,” pushing the launch back by a few months.

As it stands, OnePlus fans are now being asked to pay considerably more for a product than initially promised — without any official word as to why.