McLaren confirms their partnership with OnePlus has reached its conclusion

A few days ago it was noticed that the OnePlus logo had disappeared from the McLaren website but until any real confirmation we were hesitant to report on it. Today we have it with McLaren confirming that the partnership have finished.

In a statement to Android Authority McLaren said:

Our partnership with OnePlus, which came to its scheduled conclusion recently, has been a highly successful collaboration between two iconic and innovative brands. Since the start of this partnership in 2018, OnePlus has been a supportive, valued partner and we wish them well and hope to see them in the future.

McLaren and OnePlus began their relationship with the OnePlus 6T McLaren Edition in 2018 and the phone, which we managed to get on of, was a hit with its styling, design and theme — oh and its speed was out of this world. For OnePlus to partner with a Formula 1 manufacturer seemed very fitting — not just at the time but still now.

We saw OnePlus brand their Concept One at CES this year with the McLaren logo, borrowing some of McLaren’s electrochromic glass supercar technology to hide the rear cameras when not in use. It seem that that was the last time we will see the two in partnership which is very disappointing.

The partnership was very fitting although we still wonder what McLaren got out of it — money? It is possible that OnePlus are having to cut corners due to a downturn in the smartphone market due to COVID-19 but it could also be that the partnership is just finished and OnePlus have other plans.

We still expect to see some form of partnership phone later in the year when the OnePlus 8T arrives — we hope for something though as all of their partnership phones have been subtle, attractive and well thought out. We see Huawei with their Porsche partnership (although it remains to be seen if that can continue) and OPPO with their Lamborghini partnership. We would love to see OnePlus sign with McLaren again later this year of course — a McLaren Daniel Ricciardo-styled OnePlus 8T sounds great!

In the end there was nothing nefarious with the ending of the relationship, it just expired. What the future holds for OnePlus and their partnerships remains to be seen but with the company in such a strong position these days you can be sure there will be companies lining up for cross-marketing opportunities.