OnePlus Could End Operations In US, UK, And EU Weeks Before Oppo Find X9 Ultra Launch, Tipster Says

OnePlus, the company that was founded in 2013 with the intention of delivering high-quality, premium smartphones at a reasonable price, could be permanently leaving the smartphone market soon. This is if the claims of a tipster that the China-based company will be ceasing smartphone operations in April are true.

The tipster, Yogesh Brar, posted on social media that OnePlus will be shutting down global markets and divert its attention to entry and mid-range devices in India, 9 to 5 Google reported. However, that post by Brar has since been taken down, raising questions of its authenticity.

Regardless, it aligns with several occurrences involving the company in the past months. This includes reports of some employees receiving severance packages alongside the exit of prominent executives from the company.

Robin Liu, the CEO for India, allegedly left the company and returned to China. Carl Pei, one of the founders of OnePlus when it came out in 2013, also left the company in 2020. Emily Dai took over as lead for OnePlus operations in India. The leadership change was backed by internal documents put up by a user, JonSigur, on Reddit.

Pete Lau remained although he transitioned into a broader role. He moved to a Chief Product Officer role for Oppo in 2020.

Market Conditions Hit OnePlus Hard

The rumoured end of OnePlus can be attributed to several factors. Prevailing market conditions are one of them. This includes shortages of memory and storage, not to mention rising costs that have forced companies to push back according to Phone Arena.

However, poor sales performance could also be a factor. With OnePlus mainly focusing on China and India for its smartphone sales, their market share is not exactly impressive. In a previous report by Phone Arena, it was shared how OnePlus holds only 1.6% share in China and 3.6% share in India.

Given those facts, it appears the now-deleted post and the series of events that led to it clearly point to a OnePlus end. While there are still some products set to come out, the expectation is that most of these devices are unlikely to be made available outside China.

Oppo Launch, OnePlus Worries

A new smartphone scheduled to come out from Oppo, the parent company of OnePlus, is the Oppo Find X9 Ultra next month. Paired with the rumoured shutdown of OnePlus in the US, UK and EU, these developments are bittersweet.

While many will look forward to what the new Oppo Find X9 Ultra will have to offer, existing OnePlus phone owners will be worrying about other things. That includes support for their devices. Being the parent company, will Oppo continue that moving forward?

For now, OnePlus has reiterated that it will provide a full guarantee of users' after-sales support, software updates, and consumer rights commitments. There is a possibility that OnePlus India could be retained, meaning all is not lost. But as far as consumers from other regions who have limited options on smartphone choices, OnePlus may no longer be among them.

Answers to all these questions should be clearer in April. A new Oppo phone is coming but will a OnePlus shutdown happen and spoil everything?