In context: OnePlus' smartphones are becoming increasingly popular over time, and there's a good reason for that: the company makes solid phones at affordable prices. Unfortunately, the Chinese phonemaker's devices aren't available as upgrade or purchase options for all US carriers. The phones can be snagged as part of T-Mobile and Sprint plans, but the other big two carriers – Verizon and AT&T – haven't officially sold them so far.

Obviously, this is not an ideal state of affairs for US customers. Many ordinary phone users can't afford to pay a lump sum of over $500 for a single device and would prefer to cover the cost through payments tied to their monthly phone bill.

Fortunately, moving forward, that could be possible for Verizon subscribers. Android Police has been informed by sources "familiar with the matter" that Verizon and OnePlus have entered into a partnership, which will see the former begin to carry the latter's devices sometime in 2020.

It's not clear what devices will be available through Verizon, unfortunately, but newer flagships like the upcoming OnePlus 7T seem like obvious inclusions. OnePlus will likely also try to get some of its (somewhat) cheaper, more value-oriented devices like the $500 OnePlus 6T on the network if possible; but that's just speculation on our part.

A 2020 timeframe for this deal makes sense for both OnePlus and Verizon: right now, the US and China are still embroiled in a bitter trade war, and upcoming tariffs (of up to 15 percent) could negatively impact any such agreements if they were to occur soon in the near future. By mid-2020, though, perhaps these global tensions (and, by extension, tariffs) will have cooled down.

At any rate, while an agreement between Verizon and OnePlus seems inevitably at some point, we should reiterate that Android Police's information has not been officially confirmed by either company just yet. As such, feel free to take the report with a grain of salt until we see an official announcement.

Image credit: Ft. Wayne by Shutterstock. OnePlus 7 Pro by Juan Garzon.