Read update
Heads up, German shoppers: TheOnePlusstore is officially (re)open for business. News of the Chinese cell phone manufacturer returning to the German market broke this morning, afterit took a roughly year-and-a-half-long hiatus from advertising and selling its productsin Germany amid a patent dispute with competing mobile manufacturer Nokia.
According to a January 29tweetfrom Allround-PC editor Max Jambor, OnePlus products can once again be purchased by German customers — effective immediately. The X post, which was retweeted by OnePlus CEO Pete Lau, specifically mentions the OnePlus Open, 12, and 12R models, but other OnePlus phones are also available for purchase through Deutschland’s OnePlus site.
This update comes less than a year after rumors swirled that OnePlus, as well as its sister company, Oppo,were gearing up to withdraw from the European market entirely. The manufacturers struggled to stake much claim in the smartphone game for these shoppers in recent years, but both companies refuted the spring 2023 rumors, withOnePlus telling Android Police’s sister site XDAthat it will “continue to invest in Europe and provide more innovative product and solutions for its users.” Oppo spokespeople shared similar remarks, noting several successful European launches in the early part of 2023 alone.
Nokia and OnePlus' patent feud concerns 4G connectivity technology and spans multiple years. In July 2022, the Chinese and Finnish manufacturers failed to reach an agreement on the matter; as a result, German authorities imposed a country-wide ban on the sale of OnePlus devices, as well as smartphones from Oppo. That ban went into effect in early August 2022, leading to a 17-month prohibition on the smartphones for German users.
It seems that OnePlus and Oppo’s verbal commitment to global growth is not a bluff. Oppo announced in a January 24press releasethat it recently signed a 5G patent license sharing agreement with none other than Nokia, an agreement that “will resolve all pending litigation in all jurisdictions” – or, in other words, is a sign that the fire has ceased.
In the press release, Nokia Technologies President Jenni Lukander said that Nokia is happy to have reached a patent cross-license agreement that “reflects the mutual respect for each other’s intellectual property and Nokia’s investments in R&D and contributions to open standards.”
The new OnePlus 12, which is one of the models mentioned in Jambor’s tweet, is the manufacturer’s latest flagship phone — andit’s every bit as feature-loaded as we hoped the flagship would be. The phone’s cooling systems are by and large unrivaled by those of any competing phone, featuring a unique dual-chamber vapor cooling component that is expected to help with heat dissipation in the long term. Inour firsthand review of the OnePlus 12, we noted a few exciting features — like Aqua Touch, which helps the user operate the touch screen even when their hand or the display is wet — and found that the manufacturer has really stepped up its camera game, overall leading it to be an unmissable contender in high-tier Android flagships.
UPDATE: 2025-08-07 04:09 EST BY MANUEL VONAU
Vivo and Nokia also sign agreement
Vivo hasconfirmed in a press releasethat it has signed a 5G patent cross-license agreement with Nokia, further saying: “Following the agreement, both parties will resolve all pending litigations in all jurisdictions.” It’s likely that Vivo will also return to markets where its devices were previously unavailable in due to the dispute.
OnePlus 12
As we fawned over in our review, the OnePlus 12 is all flagship, no AI — just an impressive piece of hardware running on solid software without hollow, gimmicky features attempting to grab your attention. Even better, this year’s OnePlus flagship is available in Germany again after a brief hiatus.
