OnePlus confirms sensationalist shutdown report is false

Ben Schoon | Jan 21 2026 - 7:15 am PT

OnePlus has come out to confirm that it is not shutting down following an “unverified” and “unsubstantiated” article that claimed the company was on a fast path to shutting down. However, that was obvious given that the article itself had absolutely no new information to share.

In a statement shared on Twitter/X, OnePlus directly calls a recent report from Android Headlines “unverified” and “false,” while adding that business operations continue as normal and that stakeholders should “verify information from official sources before sharing unsubstantiated claims.”

Recent unverified reports claiming OnePlus is shutting down are false. OnePlus India’s business operations continue as normal. We urge all stakeholders to verify information from official sources before sharing unsubstantiated claims.

This statement was largely around OnePlus in the Indian market. Speaking to 9to5Google via email, OnePlus says that it “continues to operate” as normal in North America, lining up with the other statement.

OnePlus North America continues to operate, with full guarantee of users’ after-sales support, software updates, and rights commitments.

The lengthy article OnePlus is responding to goes over the recent history of OnePlus including falling sales figures and market share from 2024, the closure of OnePlus’ North American HQ in 2024 and prior cuts to teams in Europe in 2020, the end of OnePlus’ T-Mobile partnership from 2023, and failed promises to have a staff “fifteen hundred” employees in India by 2022 (which cites data from early 2024). The post also cites a 2022 investment from Oppo to OnePlus, claiming that it was worth “$14 billion” when it was, in fact, $1.43 billion.

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If you’ll notice, there’s not a single recent action here, with every factor in the “dismantling” of OnePlus in this “exclusive” post having been from 2024 or prior. The only new information cited is around rumors of the OnePlus 16 not having a global release (which hasn’t been widely reported by any means) and canceled devices such as the OnePlus Open 2, but it’s also important to look at the context there, as Chinese brands such as Oppo and OnePlus are expected to be the hardest hit by memory shortages and rising component costs in 2026.

Yet, the article reasons that Realme’s recently-announced change to being a sub-brand of Oppo is somehow proof that “OnePlus is next” despite OnePlus having been absorbed as an Oppo sub-brand in 2021.

The article was widely accused of using AI writing throughout, which Android Headlines owner Chris Yackulic directly confirmed after changing the initial author’s byline to his own – the same action was taken on a similarly bombastic Realme article published earlier this month.

9to5Google’s Take

The future for OnePlus is not bright, but there’s not much supporting evidence that anything is happening in the near term.

As mentioned above, this week’s article cites no recent or new information. OnePlus is in the same boat it’s been in for years now – that is to say, treading some water. The global market has clearly become less and less of a priority for the brand, which is not good news – the biggest value of OnePlus to its parent company was that presence in international markets such as the US. 2023’s loss of carrier deals was very much a death blow to the company’s future in North America, but that was in 2023.

Could OnePlus be dying? Absolutely. In fact, it’s probably safe to assume the brand is dying a pretty slow death. But, again, there’s been no evidence presented that suggests anything has changed recently.