What Best Buy shoppers are noticing
Initially, Reddit user Exodia101 first flagged that their local Best Buy had pulled every OnePlus phone from the display area, and shoppers across the country quickly chimed in to confirm the same thing at their stores. Then another report popped up confirming that upon checking his own local Best Buy a noticeable empty space where OnePlus phones used to live was found, with a store associate confirming the units were recently removed.Research firm Wave7 corroborated the trend across multiple locations, with analyst Jeff Moore noting the absence in recent weeks. One Southern California store reportedly still had a OnePlus 15R on display, but the unit was powered off, leaving anyone curious about the phone with nothing to actually interact with.
OnePlus 15. | Image by PhoneArena
The replacement makes the message louder
Here’s where it gets sharper. The empty shelves aren’t staying empty. According to Wave7’s findings shared with 9to5Google, Nothing Phone 3 and Phone 4a Pro units are now occupying the space OnePlus held just weeks ago.
It should be noted that OnePlus phones are still listed for purchase on Best Buy’s website and remain available for in-store pickup, so this isn’t a full delisting. But for a brand that never had carrier partnerships in the US, losing physical demo space is functionally the same as becoming invisible to the average shopper.
A predictable next chapter
This follows OnePlus’s statement to PCMag a few weeks ago that the company is “evaluating its regional roadmap and product strategy” in North America, which was already a soft way of saying the writing was on the wall.
OnePlus hasn’t officially addressed the demo removals, and neither has Best Buy. But for US fans who have been holding out hope that the brand would find a way to stay, this is about as quiet a goodbye as a phone maker can give.
The flagship killer, killed off one shelf at a time
It’s become very evident that the company most of us once called the “flagship killer” is being killed off in the US, one empty Best Buy display at a time. Follow me on X and Threads for hot takes, opinion content, and behind-the-scenes coverage of stories like this one.
