OnePlus has used some interesting methods of building hype for and selling its One smartphone, including its Smash the Past promo and invitation system. But have those programs actually helped the OnePlus One to sell?

Carl Pei, OnePlus co-founder, has revealed to Forbes that the OnePlus One has surpassed 500,000 units sold to date. Pei went on to say that OnePlus is hoping to cross the million-sold mark by the end of 2014. “It’s going to be hard, but I think it’s possible,” the exec said.

Pei went on to talk about OnePlus’s advertising and sales details. For example, OnePlus’s marketing budget is just $300, leaving the company to try out different Facebook ads and then rely on word of mouth for promotion.

Pei also said that OnePlus makes “a single-figure dollar amount” on each One sold, which is just enough to keep the company going. OnePlus is hoping to make money on peripherals, like its headphones, to make more money.

OnePlus has received a lot of attention — some good, some not — for its sales campaigns, so it’s interesting to finally see how those methods have worked for the company so far. While the OnePlus One’s sales won’t compare to major competitors like Apple and Samsung, sales of more than half a million units is a respectable stat for a small company like OnePlus.

Have you bought a OnePlus One? If so, what do you think of it?

Via Forbes