(Eric Zeman)
The news of OnePlus's demise has not been exaggerated. OnePlus, once referred to in the enthusiast community as a tertiary Android smartphone brand in the US, is indeed reconsidering its position in the smartphone wars. The news circuit has been rumbling with reports of the company's impending extinction. OnePlus isn't dead yet, but a recent statement from the company is further proof that it's at a crossroads. Things are definitely changing for the once heralded Android enthusiast brand—and it's not good.
OnePlus Appears to Be in a Downward Spiral
I hoped this spring would bring new hardware from OnePlus. The rumor mill has been awash with reports that the OnePlus Pad 4 and the OnePlus 15T may (eventually) hit the States. But the more the rumors percolate about executive shakeups and major brand consolidation, the less I've heard about any new OnePlus devices hitting the US market. When asked if there was credence to the latest reports that it was winding down its business in certain markets, OnePlus sent PCMag the following statement:
OnePlus North America is evaluating its regional roadmap and product strategy. All users' after-sales support, software updates, and rights commitments are fully guaranteed.
OnePlus had a rocky start to 2026, particularly in the US, when it shipped the OnePlus 15 mere days before the 2025 holiday season. The OnePlus 15 was held up by FCC approval issues following a massive government shutdown. It had already been available in China and India for about a month. There was so little fanfare for the OnePlus 15's US release, compared with the Google Pixel and Apple iPhone flagships months prior, that it was almost as if the launch never happened in the States. It is becoming increasingly obvious that OnePlus's parent company, Oppo, isn't interested in bolstering the brand in certain markets as it has before.
It's a bummer, given that OnePlus smartphones have historically been among the most interesting flagships to hit the scene over the last decade, particularly here in the US, where we have more mobile homogeneity. PCMag has been reviewing OnePlus devices since their inception. We recently tested the OnePlus 15. It's an excellent device offering super value, with a superb screen and one of the longest-lasting batteries we've seen on a smartphone. But without the red-carpet rollout after Apple, Samsung, and Google's Pixel devices hit the market, no one really knows OnePlus as a key player unless they're fully dialed in to the gadget world.
Reports on OnePlus' business leanings have only grown more dismal. YouTube creators and pundits recently spiraled into a tiny media storm, citing why it's not surprising the company is facing doom. Then, OnePlus India's CEO, Robin Liu, resigned in March, followed by further restructuring across the parent corp's overseas brands. Recently, OnePlus experienced a major exodus of European employees, including staff in its London and Spain offices. There was also a LinkedIn leak in which a senior employee accidentally posted a statement similar to the one OnePlus is now doling out.
To understand why this is happening, we have to roll it back six years, before Marques Brownlee and the rest of the YouTube creator economy started playing the death march. We were still mostly in lockdown, and Carl Pei had just left the company to pursue what would eventually become the Nothing Phone. Oppo, the aforementioned parent company, took over OnePlus's general operations following Pei's exit. Then, the Oppo-ification of OnePlus's software began. OnePlus's historically plain Android leanings were slowly replaced with trimmings of Oppo's Color OS.
The enthusiast's brand, which started in 2013 running an Android fork called CyanogenMod, has morphed into just another branch of Oppo's bigger business overseas.
The Road Ahead for OnePlus, If There Is One
What's happening with OnePlus right now is a clear sign of checks and balances. The company has historically struggled to market its devices. In its heyday, when Carl Pei was still at the helm, it would manufacture scarcity by selling only through exclusive drops. But once Pei left, the novelty of the brand as the underground third Android choice started to wear off. That, coupled with a complete lack of targeted regional marketing, is why the OnePlus brand has fizzled out in the mainstream and become relegated to the status of an enthusiast's Android phone.
OnePlus hardware is still a solid investment in its current state, with four years of guaranteed software updates and five years of security patches. Some of its smartphones are the beefiest in the Android lineup. For example, the last few OnePlus flagships shipped with 16GB of RAM and offered nearly 100W SuperVooc fast charging. With this major RAM and NAND flash storage shortage underway, and OnePlus devices historically among the easiest to tinker with, it wouldn't be surprising to see prices for its phones in the second-hand market rise.
It's a cruel irony that as OnePlus is hitting its stride with hardware, the business side is facing turmoil. I've been using the OnePlus Pad 2 Go lately, and it is a reminder of the company's ability to make worthy, affordable hardware. The sub-$300 device is one of the few remaining Android-based tablets with a stylus input and a 90Hz display refresh rate. If OnePlus disappears entirely, we really are nearing the death of choice, where only a few Android brands will remain alongside Apple's family of slabs.
What a bitter end for a brand that once told us we should never settle.