2025 Winners and losers: OnePlus

2025 has been a busy year for OnePlus, with close to a dozen different launches across the globe in various categories. However, it was also one of the more controversial years for the brand, and signaled a change in direction for the company that may not be appreciated by its fans.

Loser: OnePlus Open 2

The year started on a downer, with the company canceling its foldable plans for 2025 back in February. The OnePlus Open from 2023 was a phenomenal product, not just because it was an excellent foldable, but also because it was an excellent smartphone. It was expected to be followed by the OnePlus Open 2, a rebranded Oppo Find N5, which would continue the legacy of its predecessor.

But while Oppo was allowed to have its foldable moment with the N5, the OnePlus version was canned, and the company's foldable roadmap was put on hold indefinitely. Little did we know back then that this would be the start of a worrying pattern.

Winner: OnePlus 13s

The first major smartphone launch from the company was thankfully a good one. The OnePlus 13s solved the age-old problem of having to pick any two between compact design, flagship performance, and good battery life. Here was a phone that, for the first time, could manage all three.

The phone wasn't without its flaws. Despite the claims of being a flagship, the only area it felt like a flagship was in performance, with everything else, most notably the cameras, being distinctly mid-range. Fortunately for it, it also wasn't priced like a flagship, so the whole package remains enticing to this day.

OnePlus 13s

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Possibly the biggest flaw with this phone is its limited availability, as it is only available in India, and its variant, the OnePlus 13T, is only available in China. Why that is the case remains a mystery.

Loser: Nord 5

When OnePlus announced the Nord 4 last year, it made a big deal out of its design, and rightfully so. That phone had a beautiful machined aluminum unibody design with a flush glass panel at the top that stood out from the crowd and evoked memories of a time when not everything was a metal and glass sandwich with flat sides.

Why then, you would ask, is the Nord 5 not just a flat-sided sandwich, but also one made entirely out of plastic? Were the designers of the Nord 4 sent on a permanent vacation and replaced by AI "artists" from Pinterest? Was there even any budget allocated to the design department this year at OnePlus?

OnePlus Nord 5

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Admittedly, the Nord 5 does improve upon the Nord 4 in other areas, especially the battery, and the Nord 4 design did not gel with any of the other OnePlus phones launched last year, including the other Nord phones. But who says all phones launching in a year need to look similar? Perhaps we need to go back to the time when two back-to-back releases from the same brand looked like they came from two different galaxies. In any case, going from a stunning unibody aluminum sleekness to a plastic lump should be a punishable offense.

Winner: Nord CE5

The Nord CE devices are meant to be affordable smartphones and are often quite forgettable. In fact, I had to look up what the previous models looked like because I cannot retain them in memory longer than it took you to read this sentence.

With the bar being that low, the Nord CE5 did quite well this year. Unlike the Nord 5, this model got a glow-up compared to its predecessor, and in my opinion, it is the best-looking phone OnePlus has launched this year. There is something about the simplicity of its design that comes across as more sophisticated than basic, especially in the striking blue colorway.

OnePlus Nord CE5

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Back when I had both the new Nord phones, I naturally gravitated towards the CE5 even though the Nord 5 is more impressive on paper. This would have never been the case with previous generation models, where the CE variants elicited stronger yawns than industrial-grade melatonin. The Nord CE5 is simple, but it's not boring, and that makes all the difference.

Loser: OnePlus 15

The OnePlus 13 was absolutely phenomenal when it came out at the end of last year and narrowly missed out on our 2024 lists. In fact, it remains one of the best phones that you can pick up today a full year later. So how does one improve upon one of the best phones in recent times? Apparently, you don't. In fact, you make it worse.

An objectively worse display. An objectively worse set of cameras. Even the poor haptic motor wasn't spared. And a design that looks like a police sketch of an iPhone made in a dimly lit room. The OnePlus 15 feels like it was made by someone with a grudge.

OnePlus 13

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Of course, the other aspects of it are better compared to the OnePlus 13. But that is to be expected from a newer product. We have grown used to manufacturers making incremental or sometimes no updates over generations these days. But it's rare to see a phone just straight up get worse across several key areas while also having the audacity to be more expensive. What a disappointment.

Winner: OnePlus 15R

At first, the OnePlus 15R seemed like it would go down the same route as its elder sibling. The removal of the telephoto from the OnePlus 13R was yet another self-goal in a series of self-goals from the company this year. And the design looks like the designer took a half-day leave and never came back to finish it.

But in every other aspect, the OnePlus 15R is an improvement over its predecessor. Better performance, better battery life, better fingerprint sensor, better build quality, and better speakers. Even the main rear camera isn't too bad, thanks to the new image processing engine, as long as you ignore the ultra-wide that was used to shoot the original The Blair Witch Project.

OnePlus 15R

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Exciting? No, but a solid mid-ranger that would get the job done.

Loser (Bonus Round): OnePlus

Over the recent years, OnePlus has consolidated itself as a serious player in the smartphone market. The company had everything from popular budget offerings, strong mid-rangers, and flagships on par with the best in the industry.

However, this year showed that the powers that be at the company are no longer interested in OnePlus competing in the big leagues. Whether it was putting the company's foldable roadmap on hold, taking away the Hasselblad partnership, or gutting the numbered device from being an all-around premium flagship and pivoting it to some ridiculous gaming device (with more gaming-centric models apparently on the way), it's clear this brand is now receiving step-motherly treatment from its parent company.

But you know who isn't? Oppo. From getting to have its foldable launch, keeping its Hasselblad partnership exclusively to itself, and also having proper flagship models with all the bells and whistles, it could not be more obvious that Oppo is intended to take charge as the premium brand in the family.

However, despite many such attempts in the past, the Oppo brand has yet to take off as a serious contender in the premium space, especially in Western markets. Meanwhile, OnePlus has maintained its mindshare and marketshare over the years, despite attempts to sabotage the brand. But that could change.

There is no point mincing words; it's plain to see the circus playing out to anyone with eyes to see. And it's especially ridiculous because of the way it is being carried out. It's like having some pain in your right leg, and your solution to fix it is to start hammering your left leg to make the first one seem better in comparison.

Perhaps this conjecture is entirely unfounded. Perhaps the true OnePlus flagship and foldable lineup are just around the corner. Perhaps everything that happened this year was a fluke. Only time will tell. But if you're a fan of OnePlus and you've seen everything that's happening, perhaps it's time to make your voice heard. OnePlus deserves better than to be the sacrificial lamb and to be made to fade into the background. Remember the motto.