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I’ve been using Android phones since I was in middle school. I’ve been a OnePlus fan since getting my hands on an invite to buy the OnePlus One in 2014. I’ve been professionally writing about Android and OnePlus for over 10 years. As someone who’s deeply familiar with OnePlus as a brand and its impact on Android as a whole, it brings me no pleasure to say that OnePlus leaving these markets — specifically the US — is a nightmare scenario.
OnePlus may not have been perfect, but the company’s exit from the US is a truly terrifying sign for the future of Android as we know it.
For all of its ups and downs, there’s been one through line with OnePlus over the years: it’s always pushed Android phones forward. While that’s not to say companies like Samsung, LG, and Google haven’t done the same, OnePlus had a particularly good knack for this.
With the OnePlus One, OnePlus essentially created the “value flagship” niche. The OnePlus One singlehandedly squashed the idea that you had to pay an exorbitant amount of money to get an Android phone with a flagship chip, premium design, and excellent software. $349 for the 64GB OnePlus One made a $650+ Samsung Galaxy S5 look like a joke.
And that was just the beginning. Over the years, OnePlus would go on to keep pushing the needle forward. The OnePlus 3 brought fast wired charging to the masses, and all these years later, companies like Samsung and Google still haven’t caught up to OnePlus’s lead here. The OnePlus 6T was the first US Android phone with an in-display fingerprint sensor. The OnePlus 7 Pro was the first major Android phone in the US with a 90Hz refresh rate.
So many specs/features that we take for granted today either debuted or were popularized on a OnePlus smartphone — and we need to remember that. Other Android brands would have eventually adopted fast refresh rates or faster charging speeds even if OnePlus hadn’t done so first, but it’s naive to think OnePlus didn’t push its competitors to adopt these features when they did.
What’s even more impressive is that OnePlus kept this momentum right up to the very end.
Ryan Haines / Android AuthorityThe OnePlus 13 remains one of my favorite Android phones over the last several years. Its unique design, stupendous cameras, excellent battery life, and 80W charging make it an absolute joy to use — even compared to more recent (and more expensive) Android flagships. The OnePlus 15 may have its flaws, but it’s hard to be too disappointed with the phone when it’s cramming in a 7,300mAh battery, especially in a world where the Galaxy S26 Ultra is still relying on a 5,000mAh cell.
Did OnePlus equally have its issues and missteps? Absolutely. But when you compare that to everything the company did to improve Android and make the platform more exciting, it’s impossible to feel anything but sadness about OnePlus’s demise.
Robert Triggs / Android AuthorityThat’s especially true when you consider the impact OnePlus’s absence will have on other Android brands in the US. OnePlus’s sales may never have reached the same level as Samsung’s and Google’s, but even without a large share of the US market, OnePlus’s mere presence was good and healthy for competition.
Whether it was the company’s competitive pricing, charging innovation, unique designs, or whatever else, OnePlus gave people in the US another Android option to consider. If you weren’t impressed by Samsung’s small battery capacities or slow charging, you’d probably be tempted by a OnePlus phone. If you thought Google’s Tensor chips lacked horsepower for multitasking and gaming, there was a real draw to OnePlus’s emphasis on speed and performance.
Big players like Samsung and Google haven’t exactly been the most exciting in recent years, even when OnePlus was still operational in the US. However, the incentive to innovate and try new things will almost certainly go down without OnePlus to contend with.
Why should Samsung bother bringing fast wired charging to more of its phones if OnePlus isn’t pressuring it to do so? Why should Google go through the hassle of putting bigger batteries in its phones when OnePlus is no longer there to flaunt Android phones with 7,000mAh+ capacities?
OnePlus wasn’t just another Android phone for you to choose from — it was also an important check/balance to ensure the big players didn’t get too lazy. But that’s now gone.
Mishaal Rahman / Android AuthorityFinally, it’s worth recognizing the current state of the Android world in which OnePlus’s departure is happening. Simply put, it’s not good.
As you’ve probably noticed, the entire consumer tech industry has been on fire for a while now. AI companies are hogging up RAM inventory, component prices are skyrocketing, and we’re already seeing the impacts on the Android side.
Samsung significantly raised prices on the entire Galaxy S26 lineup earlier this year, in some cases by as much as $180 YoY. The 2026 Motorola Razr series also got a price hike, with the base model even getting a storage decrease to go along with its higher price. The upcoming Pixel 11 family is also expected to be more expensive, and to make matters worse, the Pixel 11 Pro may feature less RAM than its predecessor.
Joe Maring / Android AuthorityThis is all to say that Android phones are getting more expensive and offering less than ever before. OnePlus wouldn’t have been immune to these issues either, but it would have at least still provided another choice in a market that’s becoming increasingly dull.
I know that’s not a happy note to end on, but it’s the reality we’re living in. OnePlus was a vital part of a vibrant and healthy Android landscape. For the parts of the world OnePlus is leaving, we need to brace for the Android market to change for the worse. It may not happen overnight, but a world without OnePlus is going to be worse off than one with it. And, unfortunately, that’s the world we now find ourselves in.
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