Who Owns OnePlus?

OnePlus has cemented itself as one of the biggest smartphone brands globally. What started as an enthusiast-focused company providing premium phones at budget prices is now producing flagships like the OnePlus 15 and OnePlus 15R, which are competitive with top-tier phones from Samsung and Apple. However, who owns OnePlus isn't as straightforward as figuring out who produces Apple phones. As with many Chinese companies, there's a lot going on at the back, and OnePlus is merely one front of a larger conglomerate.

The present-day OnePlus operates as a sub-brand under Oppo. The parent company behind both is called OPlus, which used to be a part of the now-defunct BBK Electronics . Oppo produces its own phones under the Oppo name while also managing OnePlus and RealMe as sub-brands. What separates OnePlus from RealMe and even Oppo is its history and where it functions; both Oppo and RealMe never made it to the U.S. market, whereas OnePlus solidified itself as a competitive force. It made its name due to the efforts of former Oppo executives and the two attributed with OnePlus' creation, Pete Lau and Carl Pei — the latter of whom went on to find the smartphone brand Nothing.

When OnePlus initially started out, it painted itself as a small indie company aspiring to create premium flagship-level phones for cheaper prices. It was later found out that the company was still backed by Oppo in its early days, but it wasn't an official sub-brand. The two companies officially merged in 2021, and present-day OnePlus phones are treated the same way Oppo treats RealMe, as a dedicated sub-brand.

Zooming out, OnePlus, Oppo, Vivo, RealMe, and iQOO all operated under the BBK Electronics umbrella. While all these brands functioned largely independently and targeted different demographics, they had the same tech giant backing them up, and often shared supply chains and factories. BBK Electronics unregistered in 2023, and all companies functioning under it split ownership. Oppo and its sub-brands RealMe and OnePlus went under the OPlus umbrella, whereas Vivo and iQOO separated into another independent entity using the Vivo name.

The reason for this split has to do with how the global market views large, faceless Chinese corporations with numerous individual brands under their name. With OnePlus, Oppo, RealMe, and Vivo all dominating global smartphone markets while being under the same corporate giant, it was only a matter of time before a restructuring occurred. All of these changes have shaped OnePlus into the brand we know today, and while it's changed a lot from the enthusiast-focused brand it once used to be, it continues to produce great smartphones for the average user.