Chinese brand OnePlus is pulling out of the global smartphone race.
In a post on the OnePlus Community forum, the popular smartphone brand confirmed it will “conclude new product rollouts in North America.”
OnePlus will continue to operate under its parent brand, Oppo, in China, but is also pulling out of Europe alongside North America. It’s unclear if other locations in Asia will still get the benefit of OnePlus devices — for instance, India is a big market for OnePlus, but there’s no word yet whether the company is pulling out of this region as well.
Realme, on the other hand, another Oppo sub-brand, will continue to operate globally and is in fact pulling out of China.
“This was neither a case of Oppo instructing OnePlus nor a unilateral decision made by OnePlus,” a OnePlus spokesperson said in a briefing and reported by CNET. “Together with Oppo, we spend a long time carefully evaluating what our users need from us most in 2026, because our users are at the heart of everything we do.”
The spokesperson also said that you’ll feel OnePlus’s spirit and capabilities through Oppo.
Unfortunately, Canadians and Americans alike won’t be able to feel this “spirit and capabilities,” as Oppo doesn’t operate in North America. The company stated that “we do not have any product plans for North America, but we are continually evaluating opportunities in markets around the world.” Unfortunately, losing OnePlus is a hit to the diversity of handsets available in Canada, and it doesn’t look like Oppo will take its place.
Farewell, flagship killer
“Flagship killer,” used to be the term I’d think when I would hear OnePlus. But over the years, the company grew out, launched multiple lines and even launched a folding phone before the likes of Google. The company’s devices aren’t as popular as Samsung or Google in Canada, and that was likely due to the lack of carrier availability. Worse, Canadian carriers’ ongoing shutdown of 3G networks caused problems for OnePlus owners whose devices weren’t certified to use newer voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) tech.
Despite that, the company made solid devices with handsets like the OnePlus 15, which offered killer specs while being more affordable than phones like the Galaxy S26 Ultra. I still haven’t come across a device with a better battery than the OnePlus 15, and even the 15R brought with it the title of flagship killer, with amazing specs at a lower pricing tier.
I’ll be sad to see OnePlus leave as I crave diversity in the Canadian smartphone market, but with smartphone sales dropping, we’ll probably lose out on even more brands throughout the coming years.
What’s next for Canadian OnePlus owners
If you have a OnePlus 13 or 15, you’ll still get updates through Oppo and will switch from Oxygen OS to ColorOS, Oppo’s operating system. However, over the years OxygenOS has become more like ColorOS and vice versa, so it shouldn’t be too much of a shift.
I remember when OnePlus first launched in Canada and you could only get their devices via an invite. I worked at Best Buy at the time and one of my co-workers got on the list and got that first OnePlus One, as did MobileSyrup editor-in-chief Jon Lamont.
Everyone was so jealous, myself included, even though I was rocking the HTC One M7 at that time. The OnePlus brand was so niche, iconic, and only tech nerds knew about it. Years later I found myself reviewing these great phones and now I’m so disappointed to see them leave.
Pour one out for the OG Flagship Killer.
