Security Concerns: OnePlus Could Soon Be in Hot Water in the US – Talk Android

In the smartphone business, there’s no country more dominant than China. Brands like Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, Honor, OnePlus, Realme, and even Motorola, either originate from China or are owned by a Chinese parent company. However, despite the US being a major market, it doesn’t have a fantastic relationship with the Asian nation.

OnePlus, one of the most popular Chinese manufacturers in the US market, may soon find itself in a very unenviable spot. US lawmakers suspect that the OEM might be sharing the data of US users with China, and if that’s the case, OnePlus could have a pretty major mess to deal with. Worst case scenario? It ends up like Huawei.

OnePlus Might Be Sending Your Personal Data Over to Servers in China

To describe the current state between China and the United States, you might hear some people call it the second Cold War, and it’s pretty easy to understand why. The US is seen as the global superpower, but if there’s a nation in second place, most would opine China. That puts China in a position where it potentially has a lot to gain with the more US data that it has access to.

While not every Chinese company is part of a clandestine plot to spy on the US, it seems that OnePlus just might be. Nothing is confirmed as of now, but two lawmakers in the US have claimed that OnePlus might be collecting the data of its US users and sending that over to servers in China. If true, it’d make for a massive breach of security.

The basis of this is an analysis by a commercial firm, though the firm remains unnamed. It’s not certain the extent of the data being collected, though it seems to include “sensitive personal information” and “screenshots”. OnePlus is a major Chinese OEM in the US, and this situation has the potential to get messy, very quickly, as the devices are available through major outlets such as:

• Best Buy
• Amazon
• T-Mobile
• Verizon

At The Very Worst, OnePlus Devices Could Be Banned From Official Retail in the United States

The US is a big market for any smartphone manufacturer, and OnePlus has fought hard to push up the ranks in the nation’s competitive smartphone market. All that hard work could be for nothing if the claims against OnePlus happen to be validated, especially ahead of a major device launch.

At the moment, they’re merely allegations, and the two lawmakers calling for an investigation hope to see OnePlus examined more deeply by the Commerce Department. It is at that point that the situation will likely be investigated in-depth, and a conclusive answer can be provided on the situation.

However, if OnePlus is found to be guilty of the claims of sending sensitive user data to China without consent, I don’t expect things to end well. A fine might not be enough. Instead, we could see the OEM entirely banned from the United States, and potentially blacklisted from dealings with American businesses. Another Huawei situation? Potentially. Only time will tell.

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