Chinese phone makers OnePlus and Oppo share a parent company and there have always been similarities between the hardware produced by the two companies. Soon there will be more similarities between the software as well.
Last month the companies announced that they’d be integrating more of their operations with one another. Now we know at least one outcome of that integration: the companies will integrate the codebase for OxygenOS and ColorOS, the user interfaces that OnePlus and Oppo currently use for their Android-powered smartphones
OnePlus says that users “will likely not even notice” the change. So it’s unclear whether OxygenOS and ColorOS will start to look more alike in the future or if each Android skin will remain visually distinct while sharing code under the hood.
OxygenOS is expected to continue to be the user interface OnePlus uses for phones sold outside of its home market of China.
But the company does say that as a result of merging the codebase, it can commit to longer support lifecycles for some of its phones:
- Flagship phones will get at least 3 major Android OS updates and 4 years of security updates, starting with the OnePlus 8 series
- OnePlus Nord and Nord CE phones will get 2 major Android updates and 3 years of security updates, starting with the first-gen Nord phone
- OnePlus Nord NÂ series budget phones will get just 1 major Android update, but 3 years of security updates
OnePlus notes that phones released prior to the OnePlus 8 will continue to receive just 2 major OS updates and 3 years of security updates.