OnePlus announces major changes to OxygenOS and its update schedule
One of my biggest gripes with OnePlus (and other companies) for some devices is that you can spend a few hundred dollars and will only see one major software update. Take the recently-released OnePlus Nord CE for example. The phone was released with Android 11 and will be updated to Android 12 in a few months, but then that’s it. Android 13 won’t be coming at all, and that’s a bit disappointing.
Today, the company has announced some major changes to OxygenOS on the whole, along with changing its stance on how long devices will be officially supported. In the forum post, Product Lead Gary C. shared what this new update schedule will look like:
- Flagship product line (including T / R): The OnePlus 8 series and newer devices will receive 3 major Android updates and 4 years of security updates.
- Nord / Nord CE: The first OnePlus Nord and newer Nord / Nord CE devices will receive 2 major Android updates and 3 years of security updates.
- Nord N series: Starting from N10 and N100, all N series devices will receive 1 major Android update and 3 years of security updates.
This absolutely wonderful, provided that you own at least the OnePlus 8. If you own anything released before then, like the OnePlus 7T, you’ll be getting two major Android updates and three years of security updates. It’s not surprising, but at least OnePlus is offering a little bit of transparency here.
In order to extend the support for these devices and release this new update schedule, OnePlus is going to be turning to Oppo for some help. The two companies recently announced that OnePlus would be working closely with the Oppo team for software, and this could mean that the end is nigh for OxygenOS as we know it.
The reason for that is because OxygenOS will be integrating the codebase from ColorOS. Supposedly, the move will be “built on a more stable and stronger platform”. Considering that OnePlus seems to have released too many devices too quickly, its software development team simply cannot keep up with the OxygenOS that we’ve come to know and love.
Gary C. also confirmed that the platform unification will begin with Android, and it will “occur via an OTA update.” While the forum post claims that we likely won’t even notice any changes in OxygenOS, this feels like a big step in the transition from OxygenOS to ColorOS for all of OnePlus’ smartphones across the globe.
The OnePlus 9 lineup in China was already released with ColorOS, as that seems to be the preferred software version in China. But we definitely won’t be surprised if ColorOS makes its way into OxygenOS in different aspects before taking over completely.