Mashtalk

Is hardware really that hard?   OnePlus pointed to the borderline-cliché catchphrase, "Hardware is hard" at its event on Thursday to launch the OnePlus 5T. But the company's own product release schedule appears to belie the saying, with the 5T coming a mere five months after its predecessor, the OnePlus 5.   However, if you look at OnePlus' ambitious launch timeline and conclude the opposite -- that hardware is easy -- you'd be jumping to the wrong conclusion. The China-based company has simply gotten really good at leveraging its natural advantages (for instance, its proximity to prototype facilities in Shenzhen) to fuel its nimbleness.   OnePlus also earns its reputation as a bold upstart. It doesn't think in the same new-flagship-every-year-on-the-dot terms as bigger brands like Samsung, and LG. The company just ships phones when they're ready, and the "T" suffix it has attached to its second-gen releases is an unsubtle dig at Apple's "S" upgrades.   Still, are they going too fa