The year 2026 started with the shocking news of OnePlus shutting down its operations in certain markets. However, OnePlus India CEO Robin Liu quickly dismissed all the claims and released a statement that the company would continue to operate as usual.
But you must have heard the saying that there's no smoke without fire. Just a couple of months later, the shutdown rumors started heating up again, and interestingly, this time no one came to claim that all the reports were baseless. Three months later, it is now officially confirmed that OnePlus is indeed walking away from the West.
OnePlus is saying goodbye to the US and Europe
According to a recent Bloomberg report, OnePlus is going to stop selling its smartphones in the US and Europe. The publication has received this information from a person who has knowledge of this matter. The company will continue to operate as usual in its home market, China.
The shutdown will expand to the rest of the world wherever its phones are sold, including India, at some point next year. However, an OnePlus official reportedly reached out to Android Authority and said that the brand will continue to operate as usual in India.
I also doubt that the company will abandon India, as, after China, it is its biggest smartphone market. Both countries are responsible for almost 74% of OnePlus smartphone sales. Shockingly, one more subsidiary brand of Oppo is walking away from one of its major markets.
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I'm talking about Realme. It will reportedly cease its operations in China; however, there's no confirmation whether this move will also extend to India. Again, the possibility of this happening seems unlikely as, in India, Realme is reportedly one of the biggest Android smartphone makers under Oppo's umbrella.
Why is OnePlus abandoning the markets in the west?
There are reportedly multiple reasons why OnePlus is walking away from the US and Europe. First, and probably the most important reason, is that the brand hasn't been performing really well in the US and European markets recently. For reference, OnePlus's market share in the US went from 1.8% in 2021 to 0.1% in 2025, according to Nabila Popal, senior research director at IDC.
On the other hand, big brands like Apple and Samsung have seen a big boost in their dominance in recent times. The Chinese brand even lags behind smaller competitors like Lenovo, Motorola, and Google. The Bloomberg report also mentions that the decision to wind down operations in these two markets has been taken because of the financial challenges Oppo has been facing in its smartphone business.
Lastly, the ongoing geopolitical tension between China and the USA, with OnePlus being a Chinese brand and still operating in the US, has also been cited as one of the reasons. Oppo will reportedly focus on setting up its presence in Central Europe, whereas Realme could shift its focus towards the Nordic region if it indeed stops its operations in the China market.
What would happen to existing OnePlus phones?
ColorOS 16 logo. | Image by Oppo
If you are reading this from the US or a European country, the main question that must be coming to your mind is what would happen to the OnePlus phones. Whether you will receive the promised software updates and the after-sale support or not. The good news is that you will, but there's a catch that you need to be aware of.
Oppo's senior PR manager in Europe, James Paterson, reportedly said that OnePlus phones will receive their promised updates, and after-sales support is also guaranteed. However, the exact details about the latter haven't been shared yet. In Europe, users would most likely be advised to take their OnePlus devices to an Oppo service center, but the same can't be done in the US as Oppo devices aren't officially sold there.
Coming to software support, OnePlus phones will reportedly switch from OxygenOS to Oppo's ColorOS in the next few months. This will allow the company to roll out the promised updates. The users will definitely have the option to disallow the switch, but that would ultimately mean giving up on future updates.
What do you think made OnePlus special in its early days?
The flagship era may be over
I heard about the OnePlus brand for the first time back in 2020 when its OnePlus 7 Pro was all over the internet for its incredibly fast performance. In fact, many Android users considered this device ahead of its time because of capabilities like a pop-up selfie camera and a 90 Hz fluid AMOLED screen. The best part was that the company was offering all these at a price way less than that of its competitors.
For me, the 7 Pro was the phone that turned OnePlus into a flagship killer brand. The unfortunate news is that six years later we're now talking about the shutdown of the company in selected markets. It's not that OnePlus hasn't released a good phone since the 7 Pro.
OnePlus launched its flagship, the OnePlus 15, last year, and in our in-house testing, we were really impressed with its performance in almost all the departments. However, there is no certainty on whether most of us will be able to get our hands on its successor, the OnePlus 16, as it might now remain exclusively available in China and India (if the company remains operational there).
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Aman Kumar is a news writer at PhoneArena covering Google Pixel phones, Android features, AI-powered smartphone tools, and mobile tech news. Before joining PhoneArena, he spent over five years writing about consumer technology for publications like MakeUseOf, How-To Geek, and Guiding Tech. His current daily drivers are the Pixel 10 and Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus, while his red iPhone SE (2nd gen) remains a personal favorite. Aman also appreciates bold smartphone experiments and still considers the Nokia N-Gage one of the industry’s most iconic designs.
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