Android Core Labs
Android Core Labs is a weekly column dedicated to deep dives, experiments, and a focused look at the technology you use. Covers phones, tablets and everything else.
OnePlus announced earlier this week that it will no longer launch new phones in the United States and Europe. Current devices will still be supported, but the company is effectively exiting these markets, and for people like me, that’s a problem.
He OnePlus 13 It’s still the only smartphone I’ve given as a gift a score of 5 out of 5 to. Looking back at the launch in early 2025, it’s clear that this was the company’s last-ditch effort to impress potential buyers, and I know it would have worked if OnePlus had a better presence with US carriers. The fact of the matter is that smartphones, especially flagships, live or die by carrier availability, and OnePlus can be found in exactly no US carrier stores.
This tremendous misstep is just one of many mistakes the company made over the years, but it was probably the biggest problem that simply couldn’t be overcome in a very broken retail system. Losing OnePlus particularly sucks in the US because no other smartphone company in the country pushes specs like OnePlus did, and no other flagship phones here have flicker-free displays.
That’s not to say other phones around the world don’t have even better screens than the OnePlus 13 or 15, but the company’s models have been the only option for PWM-sensitive people in the US since the OnePlus 12 debutedand now it is difficult to know where these people will turn.
What made OnePlus and its displays so great?
I have been writing about PWM dimming and its negative effects on people since I became sensitive to PWM in early 2023. My sensitivity arose from using the Galaxy Z Fold 4 too often in low light conditions (I regularly read in bed at night on the phone), and it took me months to discover that PWM dimming was the cause of the increasingly debilitating headaches I was having.
OnePlus and Motorola were among the first companies to make phones that I could comfortably use again, and I was surprised that these companies were paying attention to a problem that the Big Three (AppleSamsung, Google) seemed not to notice. honor too become a favorite among the PWM-sensitive community over the years, but the company operates primarily in Europe rather than North America.
Now that OnePlus is exiting the US market, the only companies left making major phones with healthier dimming options are Motorola and Nothing. Smaller vendors, such as TCL and Nuu, also make phones with healthier screens, but those companies typically aim for more economical releasesnot the spec-boundary-pushing flagships that OnePlus has made for a long time.
Motorola’s last traditional flagship phone in the US was the Edge Plus 2023and although the company has promoted its lines of folding phones with the Razr Ultra and razor fold since then, there’s no sign of an iPhone, Galaxy S Ultra, or Pixel competitor. Nothing also makes some very good phones, but even the company’s “flagship” phone is not a true flagship.
The only real solution for flicker-sensitive people is to choose a phone with lower specs or import something, and both options have their downsides. Oppo told Android Central that Realme is replacing OnePlus in the global market, but didn’t specifically talk about US availability. And so the problem of what to do remains.
My recommendation right now is to buy everything that is available from OnePlus until it is no longer available. The company continues to offer the promised seven years of support for the OnePlus 13 and 15, and the OnePlus 15R has the The best OLED screen for people sensitive to flicker I have seen to date. You’ll also still receive warranty support if something goes wrong.
But the future looks murky at best. No China-based company wants to enter the tumultuous US market due to politics, and apart from UK-based Nothing, no new brands have entered the market for some time anyway.
Unless Samsung decides it suddenly cares about our eye health, or vendors like Google and Apple start adopting screens with best eye care solutionsthe only real solution is to import and hope the phone works with the carrier of your choice, and that’s a pretty lousy place to be.
