OnePlus 9 Pro w/ 128GB storage, $969 price will never come to the US [Updated]

Ben Schoon | Jul 14 2021 - 12:09 pm PT

The OnePlus 9 Pro is the company’s most expensive smartphone ever at $969, but so far, buyers have only had access to the top-end $1,069 version of the device. Now, OnePlus has confirmed that the OnePlus 9 Pro with 128GB of storage won’t be launching in the US at all.

Update 7/14: OnePlus has just confirmed that it will never sell this advertised price point in the United States. The brand confirmed to Android Police that the variant has been canceled in the United States due to “unforeseen supply constraints.”

The OnePlus 9 Pro 8×128 GB variant was originally set to be sold in North America for $969. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen supply constraints specific to North American devices, we recently concluded it is no longer possible to bring this configuration to the United States and Canada. In North America we are prioritizing the 12×256 GB version to ensure our users have access to the highest spec device.

Our original coverage from April follows.

After the launch event earlier this month confirmed the price would start at $969, pre-orders and today’s official launch saw the phone for sale without that sub-$1,000 price. For obvious reasons, that was confusing to quite a lot of people.

Speaking with OnePlus back in April, we were able to confirm that the $969, 128GB model of the OnePlus 9 Pro is indeed not yet for sale in the US. OnePlus says that it will be available in North America “in the future,” but there’s no timeline for that launch. OnePlus did not give a reason for the delayed launch, but did confirm that the 256GB OnePlus 9 is currently “sold out” in the US but will be back in stock in the future.

In the meantime, it’s not like OnePlus 9 Pro buyers are getting a bad deal. The extra $100 buys double the storage and 50% more RAM at 12GB instead of 8GB. Still, it can still be frustrating for those on a budget. $100 is $100, no matter how you slice it.