British car manufacturer McLaren has confirmed that its partnership with OnePlus has reached its “scheduled conclusion” in what is likely to mean the end for OnePlus’ McLaren-branded handsets. “Since the start of this partnership in 2018, OnePlus has been a supportive, valued partner,” McLaren said in a statement given to Android Authority, adding, “We wish them well and hope to see them in the future.”
The partnership between OnePlus and McLaren is over
‘We wish them well and hope to see them in the future’
‘We wish them well and hope to see them in the future’
Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge
OnePlus’ partnership with McLaren has resulted in the release of several handsets, frequently offered with unique designs and higher specs and price tags compared to the rest of the handset lineup. Last year’s McLaren Edition of the OnePlus 7T Pro, for example, came with a black-and-orange color scheme and 12GB rather than 8GB of RAM. The previous year, OnePlus announced a McLaren-branded version of the 6T.
The partnership also inspired elements of the Concept One smartphone, which OnePlus showed off at CES this year. As well as including stitched leather on the back of the device, OnePlus said that the disappearing camera tech was inspired by the electrochromic roof on the McLaren 720S.
Rumors of the end of the partnership first emerged last week after the OnePlus logo disappeared from McLaren’s list of partners on its website.
The end of the partnership means you shouldn’t hold your breath for a McLaren Edition of the all-but-inevitable OnePlus 8T later this year. That said, we wouldn’t put it past OnePlus to have a newly rebranded souped-up special edition handset up its sleeve.
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