I’ve gotten numerous requests to comment on the recent round of rumors that OnePlus could be packing up and leaving the global smartphone market. I don’t like commenting on rumors, but this topic has surfaced with enough regularity, I can at least contribute some thoughts.

[Please remember, my brand bias is “competition”. The main thing I care about is seeing an accurate description of competitive options in a consumer market. I spend unequal time on less search engine popular brands, because I don’t believe those companies get a fair consideration from tech influencers with larger audiences. With that disclaimer out of the way…]

What if OnePlus Left?

I’d be really sad to lose OnePlus.

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As an American, we have precious little competition left in the smartphone market. Apple, Google, and Samsung seem content to copy each other’s conservative “slow down the innovation” approach to making phones, and it’s left to OnePlus and Motorola to try and nudge this market out of its apathy. It would be a tragedy to add OnePlus to a list of truly innovative companies like LG, Blackberry, and HTC, who all never got the respect or consideration they deserved.

The rumors do seem somewhat damning…

The CEO of OnePlus denied the last round of rumors, but has since stepped down from his role as CEO and returned to the main organization in China. There’s a spectrum of situations that could explain this corporate move. There’s no official word from the company to explain these changes, so of course the tech sites are filling that messaging vacuum with speculation.

The more nuanced takes are alluding to changes in regional distribution. The more aggressive and bait-y articles are landing just shy of eulogies. OnePlus has always been a fun brand to cover, and is useful for generating clicks, even if many tech reporters rarely took the products seriously. I believe I was correct in labeling OnePlus the new “whipping boy” brand after LG left the scene.

What IS OnePlus Today?

I have to ponder though, what would we really lose if OnePlus left?

This company is a radically different entity today than it was at its launch. The plucky upstart disruptor “flagship killer” brand hasn’t existed for a long while. I would say, from the OnePlus 7 onward, we’ve witnessed an enthusiast brand morph into a more traditional tech contributor.

There’s still a hint of the “bang for buck” DNA. OnePlus phones regularly undercut the prices of Apple, Google, and Samsung, but the solutions are a lot more mainstream than they used to be. I like this current incarnation of OnePlus a lot more than their early days of obnoxious marketing and gimmicky appeals to geeks.

This isn’t the first shrink…

As OnePlus matured, and the company started shedding its edge-lord attitude, we’ve seen the brand scale back, shrink and refine. Oppo acquired OnePlus properly in 2021 as a way to use the distribution agreements OnePlus had built, and get a toehold in the NA market.

The brand took a major pivot after walking away from USA carrier deals in 2022. The OnePlus 11 was a streamlined device meant to recall some of the company’s price competitive history. From that point forward, we’ve seen Oppo trim operations and streamline manufacturing.

OnePlus has become a label on top of Oppo software and hardware. We call the software skin “Oxygen OS”, but at this point today it’s essentially the same underlying experience as Oppo’s ColorOS. The hardware between a OnePlus and Oppo is exceedingly similar, and now the designs are nearly identical.

Oppo continues to operate this sub label, but with less and less practical distinction between the different brands.

A OnePlus shaped hole that Oppo can fill quickly…

We’ve seen a lot of turmoil in smartphone sales and regional market-share. OnePlus was a darling brand in India, and an enthusiast brand in the USA. Recently, those charts have shown OnePlus slipping in key regions, while Oppo maintains market-share, and companies like Xiaomi and Vivo are on the rise.

Oppo faces a difficult decision. There’s still some value in the label, and it still sells well as a competitive option in China. But in India and Europe, Oppo is spending money on two tiers of marketing, regulatory approvals, licensing, and operations all for OnePlus to actively compete against Oppo devices. Similar phones at similar prices, sold to similar demographics, accruing redundant costs.

Oppo shuttering the label in those regions would immediately free up resources to help the company promote Oppo phones without crossover distractions. A savvy marketing campaign would help transition OnePlus customers over to Oppo products, and OnePlus could still be licensed as a “skin” or a set of apps to help move those customers over.

“It’s the same OnePlus you’ve always loved, but now we shaved a few letters off the label. Say hello to your new Oppo!”

But what about us nerds in the USA?

This one is tricky.

Oppo bought OnePlus to have access to US distribution. Our current political climate makes it unlikely that a Chinese brand would want to raise their visibility AS a Chinese company given all the xenophobia.

I’ve mentioned in numerous reviews recently though, I kinda wish Oppo would sell more devices here in the USA by repackaging established Oppo devices as OnePlus products. It’s a pithy little joke I like to tell when I get to spend some time with a Find X, and I know that it’s logistically more difficult than just slapping a different label on a box, but I wish Oppo would slap a OnePlus label on a Find X box and call it a day. It would be nice to have a OnePlus, OnePlus Pro, and OnePlus Ultra.

Unfortunately, I believe, it’s probably more likely that Oppo would just leave the USA than maintain the last trickle of distribution they still maintain here.

If Oppo could sustain the next two and a half years, and there was some clear indication of political sentiment changing in this country, it might make sense to weather the costs and invest in this region. OnePlus could be the path to a future phone strategy with calmer attitudes in 2028. That’s a lot of time, effort, and money to commit though. I don’t know if Oppo has the fortitude to stick it out long enough on the potential of maybe seeing some political change.