Looking at getting one of these to replace my Oneplus 9 Pro, so thought I'd post what I've managed to figure out so far in case it's of use to others.

There are a couple of hardware variants (India/China and Global) with the Chinese variant having ColorOS, different radio hardware (fewer bands) and no eSIM hardware support. Other than the eSIM support, this doesn't look to be an issue for NZ, as all three network providers are fully compatible from what I can tell.  If you travel frequently to other countries, the global variant is probably a better option for you.

The ColorOS variant can easily be flashed with a global OxygenOS ROM build to get the full Android experience though (Play Store, Android Auto etc), most sellers are doing this for next-to-nothing, but it's pretty straightforward to do yourself too.  Buying these re-flashed models seems to be around $300 cheaper than getting the global variant, with little downside, so is likely the way I'll go.  My OP9 was parallel imported too, and it's never missed a beat here, or when roaming in the US on AT&T. 

There are some reddit threads about the Chinese variant units made in 2024 being region-locked in an effort to counteract parallel importing, but sellers seem to be unlocking these when they update to OxygenOS too.

Locally, Mobilestation and Becextech have these listed now, and Supero said they planned to have them listed by end of February, so should be available soon.  There is a supposedly 'official' Oneplus NZ reseller based out of Melbourne, but it looks sketchy.

HTH - I'll update with any other information I find, and if/when I get one.