OnePlus: you can now Donate the Past, if smashing isn’t your thing

Independent or not, OnePlus is still a very young company, and young companies are bound to make mistakes. Many people argued that the Smash the Past campaign has been one of OnePlus’ biggest missteps so far, but the company is taking steps to make amends.

The Smash the Past contest let users sign up for the chance to buy a OnePlus One for $1. The only catch? If you get picked up, you’ll have to destroy your old phone to get a OnePlus One, and you won’t be able to destroy just any old Nokia, as OnePlus only accepted newish and still valuable devices for the contest. See the problem? Not only was the contest asking people to destroy perfectly good devices in a potentially dangerous way (this comes to mind), but depending on what device gets destroyed, exchanging it for a OnePlus One may not be a good deal at all.

Now the Smash the Past contest is over, and OnePlus seems to have learned its lesson. The company announced it will let winners donate their old devices to a charitable organization instead of smashing them. Called Medic Mobile, the organization donates mobile devices to healthcare workers active in poor regions of the world. OnePlus One said it encourages winners to donate their devices to Medic Mobile, after  they receive their OnePlus Ones.

The company says the contest was an, ahem, smashing success, with more than 140,000 people applying for a chance to exchange their old device for a free OnePlus One. The 100 winners will be contacted starting today.