OnePlus and Oppo phones have been banned in Germany due to Nokia’s ongoing patent lawsuit.
The Finnish telecom giant won a lawsuit against Oppo and OnePlus (which is essentially a sub-brand of Oppo at this point) in July, concluding that Chinese phone makers had not paid Nokia its dues for 5G patents in Germany.
Oppo has unsuccessfully appealed this decision and is now in compliance with a court order to halt all smartphone sales in the country. Head over to the Oppo Germany website, and you’ll feel like a placeholder, with no hardware to navigate through. It’s a shame, because the OnePlus Find X5 Pro is a highlight of early 2022.
What’s special is the Q and A section that assures existing Oppo customers that they can continue to use their Oppo products without restrictions, and that they will continue to receive support and updates for their devices.
As 9to5Google points out, the OnePlus Germany web page doesn’t seem to acknowledge the judgment in an entirely a priori fashion. Everything looks good, with all the phones included, until you realize there is no way to actually buy a phone. The OnePlus Germany store page is simply filled with brand accessories.
Although this controversy is fought in Germany, it could set a precedent for the rest of Europe to follow in banning the sale of Oppo and OnePlus phones. With Europe being one of the largest smartphone markets in the world, this could be a huge problem for the two brands. Watch this space for more news when we get it.