Summary created by Smart Answers AI
In summary:
- OnePlus officially launched the high-end OnePlus Pad 4 tablet exclusively in India, featuring Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, 13.2-inch 3K 144Hz display, and 13,380mAh battery starting at Rs. 59,999.
- Tech Advisor observes that OnePlus Europe and US employees are reportedly losing jobs amid rumors of OnePlus merging with Realme under Oppo’s umbrella.
- The India-only release limits global availability despite strong specifications, while OnePlus’s future independence remains uncertain with potential reduced original launches.
The OnePlus Pad 4 has been announced, but rumors and changes surrounding the brand suggest that not many of us will be seeing the new tablet.
Two seemingly contrasting things remain true about OnePlus: it’s still releasing products on a consistent basis, yet it also appears to be in the process of a protracted shutdown.
Following on from the low-key launch of the OnePlus Nord 6 smartphone and the OnePlus Watch 4 smartwatch, the brand has just announced the OnePlus Pad 4 tablet.
As expected, it’s a relatively high-end tablet with a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor, a 13.2-inch 3K 144Hz display that can hit 1000 nits, 512GB of storage, a meaty 13,380mAh battery, and 80W wired charging. A rival to the Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra and the other best tablets on the market then.
OnePlus
It’s less than 6mm thick, yet OnePlus has managed to squeeze in a 17% larger vapor chamber to help with sustained performance. It’ll be available in two colors: Dune Glow and Sage Mint.
There’s also a new Stylo Pro stylus accessory with up to 16,000 pressure points, as well as a new keyboard case.
The key disclaimer in all this is that the OnePlus Pad 4 may not be coming to a market near you any time soon. At the time of writing, it’s an India-only release, with pricing starting from Rs. 59,999 (about £470/$630 converted).
OnePlus
The slow death of OnePlus
All of this is remarkable within the context of concurrent reports about the slow death of the brand.
Following repeated indications of a shutdown (possibly starting with Europe), the latest claim is that parent company Oppo is looking to merge OnePlus with another of its underperforming smartphone brands.
Established tipster Digital Chat Station reckons that “OnePlus and Realme have officially merged” (via machine translation).
Combined “sub-product” and “sub-business” units have been established, while a corroborating report from Techleakszone claims that this new merged entity will report to Pete Lau, co-founder of OnePlus and current Senior Vice President and Chief Product Officer of Oppo.
That latter report also carries the claim that greater emphasis will be placed on the “reuse of product lines”, which suggests that we’ll be seeing even fewer genuinely original launches from the brand, and more repurposed Oppo handsets.
In separate but related news, Android Headlines points out that a number of OnePlus Europe and US employees have been posting about losing their jobs on LinkedIn. It’s something we’ve seen in terms of our media contacts at OnePlus, with some moving to Oppo.
None of this rules out a future for OnePlus, of course, but the fact that the company is steadily diminishing before our eyes will be of some concern to die-hard OnePlus fans – if they haven’t written it off already.
