OnePlus Ends New Phone Launches in US and Europe
Cover image from techcrunch.com, which was analyzed for this article
OnePlus confirmed it will no longer release new phones in the US and Europe, effectively ending its presence in those regions. The decision follows years of challenges competing with established brands. Tech outlets covered implications for the 'flagship killer' strategy.
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Thursday, July 16, 2026 — Tech
OnePlus’s exit removes a once-distinct price and feature option from Western markets at a moment when global smartphone demand is falling and two brands already control 80 percent of US volume. Existing owners retain support, but the industry continues to consolidate around fewer suppliers and fewer choices.
What outlets missed
Most coverage omitted the scale of OnePlus’s US shipment collapse from one million units in 2019 to 130,000 in 2025 and the direct role of T-Mobile ending its partnership. Few outlets connected the withdrawal to the specific memory-chip shortage that Counterpoint linked to an 11 percent global shipment drop. The return of co-founder Peter Lau to Oppo as chief product officer and the explicit confirmation that Realme will stop selling in China received minimal attention. Regional differences in support—Oppo maintaining a European presence while having none in the US—were often collapsed into a single narrative of total retreat.
Smartphone buyers in the United States and Europe face one fewer brand option after OnePlus confirmed it will stop introducing new models in those regions. The move concentrates the company’s efforts on China while parent Oppo maintains support commitments for existing devices. Market consolidation accelerates as Apple and Samsung increase their combined share of US shipments from 73 percent in 2021 to 80 percent in 2025.
OnePlus, founded in 2013 by Pete Lau and Carl Pei, built its early reputation on high-specification phones priced below flagship competitors. Shipments in the US fell from one million units in 2019 to roughly 130,000 in 2025 after T-Mobile ended its carrier partnership in 2023, according to International Data Corporation analyst Nabila Popal. Global smartphone shipments declined 11 percent year-over-year in the second quarter of 2026 amid a memory-chip shortage, Counterpoint Research reported, with Oppo recording double-digit drops.
Oppo stated that user rights, after-sales service, and software updates remain guaranteed. Devices in Europe and North America will transition from OxygenOS to ColorOS in coming months, though owners may retain the prior interface at the cost of future updates. Oppo Europe CEO Elvis Zhou said Europe remains a key market for the parent company and that its own Find X series will continue to launch there. OnePlus co-founder Peter Lau rejoined Oppo as chief product officer as part of the integration.
Bloomberg reported that OnePlus would also exit India and other markets outside China by next year, but Oppo’s public statements addressed only the US and Europe product roadmap. WIRED confirmed staff reductions and transfers in North America and Europe between March and June 2026 through former-employee accounts and LinkedIn records. Oppo declined to specify exact layoff numbers or future India operations.
The withdrawal leaves Chinese brands with even less visibility in the US, where regulatory actions have already removed Huawei and ZTE from carrier channels. Consumers lose access to certain hardware features that OnePlus once introduced ahead of broader industry adoption, Popal noted, while the market narrows further around two dominant suppliers.
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