Who is OnePlus?
OnePlus is a Chinese technology company that primarily makes smartphones. The co-founders — Pete Lau (CEO) and Carl Pei (Director) — started the company in late 2013 (Pei, however, has now left the company to start his own called Nothing). Lau and Pei formerly worked for another Chinese technology brand, OPPO — a BBK Electronics subsidiary.
What does OnePlus offer?
As stated earlier, OnePlus primarily creates Android smartphones. In its early days, it was known for making high-powered phones with unique design elements and low prices. We saw this in its first phone, the OnePlus One, which had a starting cost of just $300.
As the brand attained more footing in the industry, it slowly raised its prices. In 2023, its standard flagship phone of the year — the OnePlus 11 — launched with a $699 price tag. However, that’s still competitive, especially considering the Google Pixel 8 Pro is $300 more and the starting price of a Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus is the same.
OnePlus differentiates itself from the competition by approaching its design and software from a somewhat minimalist perspective. The company’s smartphones are always simple and elegant, focusing heavily on usability. Its software — known as Oxygen OS — used to be frequently heralded as one of the best Android skins ever made. This praise was usually based on how fast, smooth, and bloat-free the software was.
Best phone to buy used: OnePlus 9 Pro
We could argue all day about which phone is OnePlus’ best ever, but few would argue that the OnePlus 9 Pro would be a strong contender. Even today, it has one of the best cameras we’ve ever seen on a OnePlus phone and has many features modern OnePlus phones lack, such as wireless charging and a full IP68 rating.
Thanks to the phone being older, you can find this used for incredibly cheap, with prices as low as $300. To sweeten the deal, the phone has one more Android upgrade scheduled, so you’ll get Android 14 at some point in 2024.
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OnePlus phones: A breakdown of your options
The “T” variants
In 2016, OnePlus released the first “T” phone: the OnePlus 3T. This phone looked exactly like the OnePlus 3 launched earlier that year but had a few spec upgrades. This started the trend of OnePlus refreshing its flagship phone line in the second half of the year.
The most recent “T” series flagship phone is the OnePlus 10T. This phone trumps the OnePlus 10 Pro with a more powerful (and less power-hungry) processor in the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1. It also charges at a ridiculous 160W. It looks very similar to the 10 Pro, however.
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The Nord series
OnePlus revealed the very first phone in its new Nord line in 2020. Known simply as the OnePlus Nord, the phone featured many classic OnePlus flagship design elements and specs while dialing back a few aspects to keep the price lower. Since then, the company has launched multiple Nord phones in two different tiers.
The Nord 3 launched in 2023 and is the latest numbered flagship model in the line. However, OnePlus also uses the “T” system for Nords, so the OnePlus Nord 2T is out there as well.
Meanwhile, the Nord “N” series started with the Nord N10 and Nord N100. Globally, these act as the cheapest ways to enter the OnePlus ecosystem. However, these phones are simply rebranded copies of OPPO phones. The Nord N300 and Nord N30 are the newest in the family.
The Ace series
The OnePlus Ace series is where the company dumps realme clones — and even clones of its own phones — in specific markets.
Case in point, the first Ace phone was the OnePlus Ace, which is only available in very select countries (China, mostly). It is a carbon copy of the realme GT Neo 3, with virtually the same spec sheet. Interestingly, the GT Neo 3 was also the launching point for the OnePlus 10R, making the lineup incredibly confusing.
The OnePlus Ace Racing Edition followed, which was also a rebranding effort. The OnePlus Ace Pro, meanwhile, looks just like the OnePlus 10 Pro and OnePlus 10T but is decidedly cheaper.
The most recent phone in this lineup is the China-only OnePlus Ace 3. This is essentially a rebranded OnePlus 12R.
The flagship numbered series
Since the OnePlus 12 is the flagship phone from the brand in 2024, it features top-of-the-line specs, including the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. It also has the newest and most innovative features from the brand, which strongly align with flagship trends of the year. Notably, the OnePlus 12 also features wireless charging, a feature with which OnePlus has had a strenuous relationship. For years, none of its phones had wireless charging. Then, it finally released a phone with it: the OnePlus 8. Then it took the feature away again, and now it’s back once more.
Regardless, we expect the OnePlus 12 to be the company’s best non-foldable phone in 2024. If you’ve got the cash and want the best OnePlus has to offer, this is it.
The “R” variants
OnePlus introduced the “R” series in 2021 with the debut OnePlus 9R. At first, “R” phones were trimmed-down versions of the main numbered phone (in this case, the OnePlus 9) exclusively for the Indian market. In 2024, though, OnePlus is taking the “R” line to a broader audience, with the OnePlus 12R being the first to launch in the United States and India.
The Open series
Samsung still owns the foldable phone market globally, but that doesn’t mean other companies aren’t throwing their own foldable phones into the ring. In the case of OnePlus, it launched its very first foldable phone in October 2023 with the OnePlus Open.
The Open is a lot like the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and the Pixel Fold in that it opens like a book. This allows it to exist either as a “normal” smartphone or a small tablet, depending on your needs at that particular moment. So far, OnePlus has not launched a clamshell-style foldable like the Galaxy Z Flip
What sets OnePlus apart from competitors?
A limited lineup
Although OnePlus often releases more smartphones each year than it did in the year prior, its lineup is still downright tiny compared to many of its competitors.
OnePlus has a smaller roster . This enables the company to focus more on its devices than some of its competitors. This is a similar strategy to the one adopted by Google, which also releases a very small selection of phones each year. Unfortunately, as OnePlus gets bigger, its roster is also growing. Time will tell if it keeps its roster manageable or if it becomes another Samsung.
Aggressive pricing
One of the most contentious topics amongst fans is how OnePlus has raised its pricing over the years. While it’s true that OnePlus phones are more expensive now than ever, the brand’s overall pricing strategy is still competitive. It’s just not releasing flagship-tier phones for $300 anymore — as it did in its early years.
When you compare OnePlus phones to the bigshots — especially Samsung and Apple — it’s plain to see that OnePlus offers a lot for sometimes hundreds of dollars less. For example, the OnePlus 9 had many similar specs to the Samsung Galaxy S21 yet cost $80 less. Even the OnePlus 9 Pro — which was very analogous in specs and features to the Galaxy S21 Ultra and the iPhone 12 Pro Max — started at $929, significantly less than those phones. The OnePlus 10 Pro was the exact same price as the Google Pixel 7 Pro, which was heralded as an amazing price for what you get. And, in 2023, the OnePlus 11 was just $699, hundreds of dollars less than its main competitors.
Worldwide availability
While it’s easy for anyone to walk into a store and buy a Samsung smartphone, that’s not the case for many other brands. Xiaomi, realme, OPPO, and many other Chinese smartphone makers have zero presence in the United States, for example.