Back in January, I told you not to worry about reports that OnePlus was being dismantled. We’d been here before, I said, in 2021 and again in 2023, and OnePlus carried on regardless both times. Well, I was wrong, and the OnePlus 16 has made that sting more than I expected.
After months of behind-the-scenes shifting that made it clear something was going on, OnePlus confirmed its exit from the European and North American markets back in July.
And, as far as these things go, it’s a pretty orderly one; OnePlus phones will continue to get software updates from Oppo, with Android 17 currently rolling out to a bunch of devices, and long-term support commitments are being honoured.
I wrote plenty about it while it was going on, and I’d made my peace with it. Let’s be honest, OnePlus had been drifting closer to Oppo ever since owner BBK Electronics announced a merger back in 2021, and the writing had been on the wall for a while. Those early rumours didn’t appear out of the blue, after all.
Then, earlier this week, OnePlus announced the OnePlus 16 in China, and I’m not at peace with it any more.
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A seriously tasty spec sheet
Part of the problem is that the OnePlus 16 isn’t just a minor update over last year’s already-fantastic OnePlus 15.
The headline upgrade is, of course, the humongous 9,000mAh silicon carbon battery – nearly double that of the 5000mAh cell in the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra. But despite that massive capacity, it still manages to fit into a body that’s 8.5mm thick and weighs 220g. For context, Apple’s top-end iPhone 18 Pro Max measures in at 8.8mm and 249g – though it is a bit of an outlier with its heft.
That’s paired with rapid 100W wired and 50W wireless charging, with OnePlus claiming the former provides 80% charge in just 37 minutes, along with bypass charging support for those long gaming sessions.
That’s not all either; it’s one of the first phones to pack Qualcomm’s new 2nm Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, paired with 12- or 16GB of RAM. Considering the OnePlus 15 managed to beat most other phones running the same 8 Elite Gen 5 with better optimisation, I’d expect the same from the 16.
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It’s also leaning further into that performance with the screen, which remains a 6.78-inch AMOLED panel, though the refresh rate has been boosted to an even faster 185Hz. OnePlus was one of few manufacturers to reach out to popular mobile game makers to work on support for the ultra-fast refresh rate with the 165Hz-enabled OnePlus 15, working well with titles like CoD Mobile, so it’s not just a marketing number as it would be on other phones.
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The camera has also had a much-needed glow-up after the OnePlus 15’s slight downgrade, sporting a 200MP main camera with a fairly large 1/1.4-inch sensor, backed by a 50MP 3x periscope, 50MP ultrawide and even a 50MP selfie camera around front. It won’t take on the best camera phones, but it should be a solid all-round snapper given the numbers.
That is the phone I’ve been asking OnePlus to make for years; an endurance monster with flagship power and no real weak spots. And it’s arrived the year that I can’t actually buy it.
ColorOS doesn’t make it an Oppo phone
The biggest change is a shift in software; the OnePlus 16 no longer ships with the OnePlus-flavoured OxygenOS, instead coming with Oppo’s ColorOS 17 out of the box. That’s not just a China thing either – OxygenOS is being phased out entirely, with existing OnePlus phones moving over to ColorOS with Android 17.
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There’s an argument that I’m sure some will make, that with the new software, Oppo phones and OnePlus phones are virtually indistinguishable from one another – I’m sure that’s the stance Oppo would love people to take – but that’s really not the case.
Yes, they may look similar and even share features like the Snap Key, but Oppo and OnePlus phones have always been built for different people – especially at the flagship level. Oppo’s Find X flagships go all-in on photography with its Hasselblad partnership, while OnePlus was the brand chasing speed, battery and smoothness above all else.
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That means that mobile gamers are no longer catered to; MediaTek-powered Find X phones could never compete with the Snapdragon-powered OnePlus alternatives in performance and battery life, and I can’t see that changing with the impressive spec sheet that the OnePlus 16 offers.
Essentially, the phone with a 9,000mAh battery, a 185Hz screen and gaming-focused bypass charging is the one staying in China. The one we get is a camera phone first and foremost.
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Importing isn’t really an option, either
Of course, I could go down the route of importing a OnePlus 16, but a China-market phone comes with the usual caveats; it has software vastly different from that we get in Western markets, there could be issues with network band compatibility, there’s no UK warranty and, of course, no OnePlus UK to turn to if something was to go wrong with it.
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That’s a lot of hassle for a phone brand that, until earlier this year, was a safe bet.
It’s also not as cheap as it used to be. The OnePlus 16 starts at CNY 5,999 (around £671/$896) in China, 50% more than the OnePlus 15 did at launch in the region last year. That’s pretty much in line with what I said in August when Qualcomm confirmed its chips were getting more expensive: flagship prices are only going one way, and the ‘flagship killer’ price tag OnePlus built its name on is long gone.
The real loss is choice
What gets me most isn’t the OnePlus 16 itself, but what its absence means for the UK market.
OnePlus had been the brand pushing big batteries, fast charging and high refresh rates into the mainstream, and in doing so, it kept pressure on the likes of Samsung and Google. Without it, there’s one fewer company forcing big names to do better, and one fewer option for people who care more about performance and endurance than having the best zoom lens.
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Oppo will no doubt pick up plenty of former OnePlus fans, and other Chinese brands will fill the big battery, big performance gap in the UK market, but the OnePlus 16 is a reminder that the best phones aren’t always the ones that make it to these shores. And this year, one of the best won’t.