OnePlus, which made its name in international markets thanks to its affordable flagship killers, is now having to take those very flagship killers off store shelves.
For those unaware, OnePlus has been going through a tumultuous time. Although the tech giant hasn’t claimed this, it is reportedly looking to shutter business.
Leaks are rumors earlier this year suggested that the company was being dismantled. At the time, the leaks sounded greatly exaggerated, and OnePlus even came out and suggested that its North American operations would continue without any issues.
Now, it looks like the first signs of North American tension have arrived as OnePlus display models have quietly started vanishing from local Best Buy shelves across the country, as pointed out by the folkds over at PiunikaWeb.
The development was first highlighted by Reddit user Exodia101 in the OnePlus subreddit and corroborated by other users within the post.
OnePlus phones are still listed on BestBuy.com
“I went to Best Buy the other day to see the display models. Only OP they had was a 15r and it wasn’t even able to be powered on,” wrote one user, while a different one wrote “About 4 months ago I went to Best Buy and they had no floor samples of the OP phone available to look at.”
This suggests that the gradual phase out hasn’t just started.
“The same thing happened where I live. I live in the Midwest. OnePlus phones were pulled from the local Best Buy store over two weeks ago in my area. Only the OnePlus 15 & 15R are listed for online buyers,” added one user, while a different one said “I noticed the same thing at my Best Buy the other day.”
It’s worth noting that OnePlus devices are still listed and available for pickup and delivery via BestBuy, so this isn’t a merchant-wide change.
This isn’t an isolated case of a single store running out of OnePlus devices. Considering that this has been reported at multiple stores suggests that something might actually be brewing.
OnePlus hasn’t made any official announcement about its North American retail strategy as of yet.
