OnePlus, a brand that once dominated the geek community with its slogan "Never Settle" and was hailed as a flagship killer in the European and American markets, is now reportedly facing a serious financial and operational crisis, and may even be liquidated by its parent company OPPO.
However, Robin Liu, head of OnePlus India, later clarified that OnePlus's business is still operating normally and pointed out that the reports were untrue.
With Europe and the US withdrawing their troops and India collapsing, market share plummeted by 71%.
According to the reportOnePlus's shipments plummeted by 20% in 2024, a stark contrast to its parent company OPPO's 2.8% growth during the same period. OnePlus had pinned its hopes for a turnaround on the Indian market, but due to persistently low profit margins and after-sales warranty disputes, a large number of Indian retailers boycotted the brand and stopped selling OnePlus products, causing its market share in India to plummet by 71% within a year.
Although OnePlus had previously partnered with T-Mobile to expand into the European and American markets, it began to withdraw from the market in 2020. Not only did it lay off a large number of staff in its European team, but its channel cooperation with T-Mobile also officially ended in 2023, and its headquarters in Dallas closed in March 2024.
Even though OPPO promised to contribute in 2022RMB 100 billionTo salvage the situation, OnePlus was even allowed to merge into the OPPO system, operating as a sub-brand to gain market share through "no-profit sales," but ultimately, this gamble ended in failure. With the rise of realme...It was recently integrated back into the OPPO system.OnePlus, which has been performing poorly, is rumored to be the next company to be liquidated.
When it rains, it pours: Liu Zuohu is wanted by Taiwan.
Amidst the brand's turbulent times, a bombshell has dropped from its leadership. Pete Lau, the key figure behind OnePlus and also OPPO's senior vice president, has recently been rumored to have...Wanted by the Taiwanese authoritiesThe company has been accused of violating the Cross-Strait Relations Act by illegally establishing a company in Taiwan and recruiting local engineers. Two other Taiwanese branch managers have also been indicted in the same case. This has clearly dealt a heavy blow to OnePlus's brand reputation and raised serious questions about whether the brand can maintain normal operations.
Indian officials swiftly downplayed the reports, stating they were inaccurate and that operations were normal.
In response to widespread rumors of bankruptcy and liquidation, Robin Liu, head of OnePlus India, immediately refuted the claims, emphasizing that all reports about OnePlus's business being suspended or shut down were "false information." He also insisted that all of OnePlus's business operations are currently running normally and that the company will continue to launch new products to serve users in the future.
However, compared to the recent OnePlus 15 launch event, which was only held briefly via a Zoom video conference, the official confidence-building rhetoric seems somewhat weak and unconvincing.
Analysis of viewpoints
The fall of OnePlus is actually an inevitable result of the smartphone market entering a period of "competition for existing market share".
OnePlus's early success relied on "high specifications at low prices" and "geek marketing," but now, in 2026, component costs have skyrocketed (especially memory and storage), making it increasingly difficult to enter the flagship phone market. When even the parent company, OPPO, has to carefully calculate every penny of profit, it's hard to tolerate a sub-brand engaging in internal "fighting within the same network" and losing money.
Furthermore, blurring the lines between OnePlus and OPPO is a major blunder. As OnePlus becomes more and more like OPPO (integrating ColorOS and sharing the same design), it loses the unique appeal it originally had to attract tech enthusiasts in Europe and America.
As for Liu Zuohu's wanted status, regardless of the final legal outcome, it is a huge public relations disaster for a senior executive of a multinational corporation. If even the founder is mired in legal troubles, and the main battlefield of India has been lost, OnePlus will need more than just the slogan "Never Settle" to turn things around in 2026; it will require a real miracle.
