OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei took to Twitter yesterday to remind us of an important anniversary—it's the company's fifth anniversary. Yes, it was just five short years ago that we started seeing the roguish and somewhat tiresome "Never Settle" slogan plastered all over social media. I will admit to some early skepticism of the company, but here we are five years later, and the OnePlus 6T is Android Police's phone of the year.

If you've been following the Android ecosystem long enough, you might remember the months of teasing we endured in the run-up to the original OnePlus One announcement. When we finally saw the phone, it was pretty good. At just $299, the OnePlus One could hold its own with phones that cost several times more. That device ran CyanogenOS, but in a dramatic reversal, Cyanogen Inc. pulled the plug on OnePlus to focus on low-cost phones in India. One of those companies is still around, and the other isn't. OnePlus had to throw together its own ROM for the OnePlus 2, which it called Oxygen OS.

There have been some bumps along the way. Remember when OnePlus encouraged people to break their phones with its ill-conceived "Smash the Past" promo? Oh, and there was the whole invite system that made the phones annoying to buy for the first few years. You could also argue the OnePlus 2 was kind of a mistake, too. 2016 Flagship Killer, anyone? That's all in the past, though. OnePlus has grown over the years to become a major player in Android. It's one of the most popular premium smartphone brands in India, and you can even buy a OnePlus 6T from a US carrier.

OnePlus makes good phones, and I hope they continue doing so for a long time. Happy anniversary.