New updates are being added to the bottom of the story…

Original story (from March 22, 2021) follows:

The world is coming to an end and unholy alliances have already started forming! Well, not exactly. In case you missed the headlines over the past few days, let’s quickly bring you up to speed.

OnePlus is ditching its HydrogenOS efforts in its home market of China and instead, copying its sister, Oppo’s homework by using ColorOS in its newer devices, starting with the soon-to-be-unveiled OnePlus 9.

oneplus 9 will run coloros

Anyone that’s known OnePlus for any period of time knows just how closely knit OnePlus’ seemingly different, yet similar custom skins are.

Usually, development starts off with the Chinese HydrogenOS for any supported device before the same being ported over to the OxygenOS version for the rest of the world.

So what does this change from HydrogenOS to Oppo’s ColorOS for OnePlus devices mean for users of OxygenOS? Well, not much.

OnePlus-8-inline-new

In the release statement, OnePlus made it clear that users of OxygenOS will continue to get updates and subsequent OxygenOS builds as they always have been.

For all of our users outside of mainland China, we will continue using OxygenOS for global devices in the future and remain committed to offering a fast and smooth experience with OxygenOS.
Source

This is all good until users begin to realize that, maybe they’re getting the short end of the stick here.

Of course, there’s a feeling of ‘good riddance’ from OnePlus users owing to just how massively the company botched the development and deployment of Android 11.

Also, Oppo’s ColorOS 11 has received critical acclaim from various quarters, being touted as one of the most wholesome Android experiences in the market today.

ColorOS-11-UI

Bear that in mind and then compare that to OxygenOS’s stock Android-inspired look and feel (that was changed in Android 11-based OxygenOS 11) and you begin to see the predicament.

Seeing just how well the ColorOS team has managed to roll out Android 11-based ColorOS 11 to the numerous eligible devices, we could also expect the same level of efficiency of updates to OnePlus devices on ColorOS.

And this ColorOS team is wasting no time at all. Already, we have seen early test builds of ColorOS for OnePlus 8 with supposed plans to bring the same to more devices.

Already, the ColorOS prospect for OnePlus devices is looking much more glamorous compared to the kind of work HydrogenOS and OxygenOS teams have been doing for the past several months.

And this brings us to our poll for the day for OnePlus users running OxygenOS. Would you be interested in a ColorOS build for your device like your counterparts in China?

You can cast your vote on the Twitter poll above, and the results will be posted here after a week.

Update (March 29, 2021)

And we have a winner. A majority of you, 63.3%, are just fine with OxygenOS while 23.3% of you would prefer to have ColorOS. Lastly, 13.3% of you guys don’t really care.

Update (March 01, 2022)

The idea of making a unified OS for Oppo and OnePlus devices has been called off as both brands have decided to continue developing their own operating systems, ColorOS and OxygenOS respectively.

OnePlus co-founder Pete Lau has announced that both ColorOS and OxygenOS will remain independent operating systems, yet, they’ll share the same codebase. Moreover, OxygenOS 13 will bring back the typical OxygenOS experience.

NOTE: We have these and many more OnePlus stories in our dedicated OnePlus section.

PiunikaWeb started as purely an investigative tech journalism website with main focus on ‘breaking’ or ‘exclusive’ news. In no time, our stories got picked up by the likes of Forbes, Foxnews, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Verge, Macrumors, and many others. Want to know more about us? Head here.

Clinton Madegwa
1118 Posts

A cybernaut grasping at all things tech. Lover of Android, Linux, and custom ROMS. A nerd, a writer, an avid reader.

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