The OnePlus 11 has now landed and achieved a solid four stars in our OnePlus 11 review, but if you were hoping for an even higher-end OnePlus 11 Pro – one that might perhaps grab that remaining star – then you’re out of luck, as OnePlus has confirmed there won’t be one.
In a statement to Android Authority, a spokesperson for the company said: “Starting with our 2023 lineup, we are streamlining the flagship portfolio in North America (and globally) by removing our Pro lineup. In our opinion, you don’t need to have a ‘Pro’ name for a device that’s already ‘pro’.”
So it sounds like there won’t be a OnePlus 12 Pro or any future Pro models either, and Android Authority additionally claims to have been told there also won’t be a OnePlus 11T, meaning that outside India – where there’s also a OnePlus 11R – there will probably only be one high-end OnePlus phone this year.
The lack of a Pro model this year isn’t particularly surprising, given that we’d expect to have seen it by now – or at least heard leaks about it – if such a phone was coming. Plus, for the most part the OnePlus 11 is a Pro phone in all but name, which is essentially what OnePlus is saying in the statement above.
This is arguably a less confusing approach than what the company did last year, where it released a OnePlus 10 Pro but not a standard OnePlus 10. The Pro suffix implies there’s a standard model that this is a Pro variant of, so it was an odd choice of name that they've essentially corrected this year.
Still, there are some clear missing features here that a OnePlus 11 Pro could have addressed, such as wireless charging and proper, certified water resistance.
Of course, while this is the company’s stance for now it might eventually change its mind, though probably not in time for a OnePlus 11 Pro.
It’s also possible that there will be other high-end OnePlus phones that don’t have Pro in the name. We know, for instance, that the company will be showing off a OnePlus 11 concept phone at MWC 2023 later this month – though that’s unlikely to be launched commercially.
Analysis: it’s the Nord series that really needs streamlining
Most phone manufacturers launch more than one high-end handset each year. From Apple to Samsung, to Google, to Xiaomi and beyond, there are various Pro and Ultra models to go alongside their standard flagships.
So the flagship OnePlus line, with its typically two yearly models (not counting the T and R releases), doesn’t feel overly in need of streamlining.
What feels far messier and more bloated though is the Nord line. This series has had at least nine entries so far, despite only starting in July 2020. The way they’re named also doesn’t always leave it totally clear where they sit in comparison to each other, making it a potentially confusing line for consumers to interpret.
Not every Nord phone is sold everywhere. Right now, for example, OnePlus stocks the Nord N20, Nord N100 and the OnePlus Nord N200 in the US, while in the UK there’s the OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite and the OnePlus Nord 2T.
That slims down your options but it also potentially adds confusion, since we live in a global society, so people will be reading about phones they can’t buy. Many of these handsets are quite similar too, so there really seems little need for so many of them, or for different regions to get different entries.
As such, if OnePlus is serious about streamlining its portfolio, it’s not the flagships that need attention, it's the overlapping Nord series. Still, perhaps we’ll hear about changes to this lineup with the launch of the OnePlus Nord 3.
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