Ahead of the release of its second generation flagship handset, smartphone maker OnePlus gave away a batch of 1,000 of their custom version of Google's Cardboard Virtual Reality viewer for free, charging only a minimal fee for shipping the item.

TechCrunch reports that the Cardboard viewer from OnePlus is built around the new version of the viewer which was unveiled last June at Google's I/O 2015 Conference, with a few modifications. Compared to the original, the material used for OnePlus' VR viewer is thicker and coated with an oil- and dirt-resistant film, increasing its durability. Even so, the OnePlus viewer is about 20% smaller than the original, while still being able to accommodate phones from any brand up to six inches in screen size.The OnePlus branding is present on the front and top side of the viewer.

The company is giving away the viewer for free, but there is a $5 shipping fee for all orders. "This is not a product; it's an initiative. We aren't making any money by offering OnePlus Cardboard. In fact, we are losing money with each one." claims the company.

According to OnePlus, the first batch of the Cardboard viewer is already sold out for the United States, but says that OnePlus customers in India will be able to buy Cardboard by the third week of July from Amazon India.

OnePlus' release of its version of the Cardboard VR viewer is tied to the July 27 launch of the OnePlus 2, which will be accompanied by an event which will also be streamed online in VR.

Promising a different kind of a product launch, OnePlus raises expectations further when it said: "In our industry, product launches tend to be the same. For the OnePlus 2 launch, we didn't want that barrier between us and you; we want to invite you into our world, because you're a major part of it".