For a relatively small startup and a new company, OnePlus has managed to create quite a hype around their product – the OnePlus One. Instead of unveiling the full specs of the handset at its launch event, the company slowly announced all the main features of the handset creating quite a hype around it. The only thing that it has kept under wraps is the design, which the company states is going to be the highlight of the device.

Today, thanks to some leaked press renders, we have our first glimpse at the OnePlus One, which shows off the minimalistic design of the handset. 

Powered by the latest Snapdragon 801 processor and sporting a 5.5-inch 1080p display, the OnePlus One is very much a high-end smartphone — but it’s going to cost a great deal less than its rivals. Customers in the U.S. will pay less than $400 for the device when it launches next week, while those in Europe will pay under €350.

OnePlus launched its ‘Photo-Mania’ contest just two weeks ago and distributed a ‘camera test unit’ to each of the three lucky competition winners. In terms of design, these units were not the final version of the company’s upcoming flagship smartphone, but were instead customized in a way that only the camera could be used and the rest of the body was completely covered.

Earlier today, one of the winners, who possibly studies at the Renmin University of China, uploaded five photographs that were supposedly taken on a customized OnePlus One camera unit to a Chinese social networking website. The short paragraph of text that accompanied these images stated that Kang Yikun has been in possession of the unit for the past three days and that ‘these snaps are just some of the best photographs that she has taken throughout her time with it’.

CyanogenMod founder Steve Kondik has been working with OnePlus on the company’s upcoming smartphone for months, and in a new teaser video uploaded to YouTube this week, he finally gets to see the new handset himself for the first time.

You can enjoy the “unboxing” video yourself below, but before you dive in, you should probably prepare yourself for disappointment.

One of the many unique things about the upcoming OnePlus One is that it will run a custom version of CyanogenMod, dubbed “CyanogenMod 11S,” right out of the box. We don’t yet know what it’s going to look like, but we do get a brief taster from these leaked screenshots obtained by a “reliable tipster.”