After many rumors and much speculation, OnePlus has confirmed that the OnePlus 9T has been officially canceled In other words, OnePlus' next flagship will likely not appear until next year, when the OnePlus 10 will be launched
The news was confirmed by OnePlus CEO Pete Lau at a media briefing attended by our sister site TechRadar If you've been holding off on buying the OnePlus 9 or OnePlus 9 Pro, now might be the time to pull the trigger
Ever since OnePlus decided to release the OnePlus 7 Pro in 2019, it doesn't feel like this decision has been a long time coming Previously, OnePlus' biannual release schedule meant that each subsequent phone would get some meaningful upgrade
However, by offering a high-end "Pro" model with better features and hardware earlier, it meant that there was not much left for the T model that came out a few months later This was immediately apparent as the OnePlus 7T Pro was almost identical to the OnePlus 7 Pro
And when the OnePlus 8T Pro didn't materialize last year, it meant that the OnePlus 8 Pro offered more than the baseline OnePlus 8T, even though the 8T introduced 65W super-fast charging
It felt like the T-series flagships really didn't have anything worthwhile to offer, and the OnePlus 9T was likely not that impressive either In other words, OnePlus' fall release was always doomed if the company went through with it It just happened now, not a year or two later
Of course, the world is in the midst of a massive chip shortage, affecting everything from PS5 restocking to automobiles, and while the OnePlus T series appears to have hit a wall, the lack of components may just have prevented the company from developing another flagship device this year It may just not have been possible
After all, the same thing happened to the Samsung Galaxy Note 21 However, that was another product line that had been underperforming for several months
But whatever the reasoning behind the cancellation of the OnePlus 9T, I hope OnePlus realizes that it would be better to focus its attention on producing a quality flagship every year instead of flooding the market with new devices every few months
Lau confirmed that OnePlus still has products to announce later this year However, given the company's recent foray into the budget and mid-range market, Lau is likely referring to a new entry in the OnePlus Nord series
Lau also confirmed details about OnePlus' integration with its sister company Oppo, where OnePlus and Oppo will not exist as two separate brands, but will cross over more, especially where software is concerned In fact, the two companies are integrating their own Android flavors, OxygenOS and ColorOS, into one unified OS for both companies23]
While it is not clear when Oppo will start using this new software, Lau has said that OnePlus' 2022 flagship model will be the company's first phone, and that it will "combine the strengths of both - the fast, smooth, unburdened experience of OxygenOS with the stability and rich features of ColorOS - to make it an even more powerful OS"
The company has also announced that it will be using the new software for its first phone in 2022
The software will eventually be rolled out to older OnePlus models up to the OnePlus 8 Again, it is not clear what the deal will be with existing Oppo devices
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