The OnePlus 11 has landed now and scored four stars in our OnePlus 11 review, but if you were hoping for the higher-end OnePlus 11 Pro — the one that might grab the remaining stars — then you’re out of luck, as OnePlus As already confirmed, there will not be.
in the statement Android Authority (opens in a new tab)A company spokesperson said: “Starting with our 2023 lineup, we will be streamlining our North American (and global) flagship portfolio by removing the Pro lineup. Name it ‘Pro’.”
So it sounds like there won’t be a OnePlus 12 Pro or any future Pro model, and Android Authority also claims to have been told there won’t be a OnePlus 11T either, which means that outside of India – where there’s also the OnePlus 11R – there may only be a high-end OnePlus this year cell phone.
The lack of a Pro model this year isn’t particularly surprising, because if such a phone ever came out, we’d expect to see it — or at least hear leaks about it — by now. Also, for the most part, the OnePlus 11 is a Pro phone in all but name, which is basically what OnePlus says in its statement above.
This is arguably a more confusing approach than the company did last year, when it released the OnePlus 10 Pro but not the standard OnePlus 10. The Pro suffix suggests there’s a standard model, which is the Pro variant, so it’s an odd choice that they basically corrected the name this year.
Still, there are some glaringly missing features here that the OnePlus 11 Pro could address, like wireless charging and proper, certified water resistance.
Of course, while that’s the company’s current position, it may eventually change its mind, though it may not be in time for the OnePlus 11 Pro.
It’s also possible that there will be other high-end OnePlus phones that don’t have Pro in their name. We know, for example, that the company will show off the OnePlus 11 concept phone at MWC 2023 later this month — though that’s unlikely to launch commercially.
Analysis: What really needs to be streamlined is the Nord series
Most phone makers release more than one high-end phone each year. From Apple to Samsung to Google to Xiaomi and more, there are various Pro and Ultra models in addition to the standard flagships.
As a result, the flagship OnePlus lineup and its usual annual biennial offerings (excluding the T and R versions) don’t feel the need to streamline.
The Nord line feels more messy and bloated. Although the series only started in July 2020, there are at least nine entries so far. They’re also named in a way that doesn’t always make it entirely clear where they compare to each other, which can confuse consumers with interpretation.
Not every Nord phone is sold everywhere. For example, currently OnePlus has the Nord N20, Nord N100, and OnePlus Nord N200 in the US, and the OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite and OnePlus Nord 2T in the UK.
This reduces your options, but can also increase confusion, because we live in a globalized society, so people read about phones they can’t buy. Many of these phones are also very similar, so there really doesn’t seem to be a need for so many, or that different regions get different entries.
So if OnePlus is serious about streamlining its product portfolio, it’s not the flagships that need to be looked at, but the overlapping Nord lineup. However, with the launch of the OnePlus Nord 3, we may hear about this lineup change.