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In an interview, OnePlus CEO Pete Lau laid out the trajectory for OnePlus phones into 2022. Big changes are coming with its ‘unified OS.’
The End of Oxygen OS and the Beginning of ‘OnePlus 2.0’
The End of Oxygen OS and the Beginning of ‘OnePlus 2.0′ – What You Need To Know
A lot has happened for OnePlus in the past two years. Founder Carl Pei went to start his own company called Nothing. The North line has been expanded to include several large budget OnePlus phones for the US, essentially renamed Oppo phones. And at the beginning of the year, OnePlus CEO Pete Lau announced that OnePlus would be “further integrated” with his BBK stable mate Oppo.
Android Authority and other tech outlets recently had a chance to sit down with Lau and hear what’s going on for OnePlus in the future. Without any exaggeration, big changes are coming for the brand. In fact, so much is happening that Lau calls the future “OnePlus 2.0”.
Below we’ve rounded up all of the important confirmations we have about the OnePlus 2.0 and what you can expect from OnePlus phones in the future. The company also posted a forum post to highlight the changes, but here’s what you need to know.
OnePlus Phones Won’t Have Oxygen OS As We Know It By 2022
Lau’s biggest reveal is shocking, but not entirely unexpected: As of 2022, OnePlus phones will no longer have Oxygen OS, at least not as we know it is the new “unified operating system” that shares the strengths of the Oxygen operating system and the Oppo Color operating system.
If you recall, OnePlus confirmed earlier this year that it would continue to integrate with Oppo, which of course raises concerns that Oxygen OS would be dead. It didn’t look good when OnePlus quickly switched Chinese OnePlus phones entirely to Color OS and shortly afterwards announced that they would merge the core code of both operating systems.
With all this, however, OnePlus insisted that Oxygen OS was going nowhere, confirmed this to the Android authority when asked and often spoke about the advantages of code sharing, in particular the promise of faster and more stable software. However, it appears that the company has changed its mind as it is now said that the new unified operating system will be very different from today’s Oxygen operating system.
Unfortunately, Lau and OnePlus failed to confirm the most basic questions we had about this new unified operating system. Will it be called Oxygen OS, Color OS, or something else? Are OnePlus phones and Oppo phones getting updates at the same time? Do you understand the north lines company declined to answer any of these questions?
All we know is that Oxygen OS as we know it right now is changing. Oxygen OS 12 will be available later this year and will not be based on this new unified operating system. However, it will use the same code base as Color OS. In addition, the OnePlus skin will change significantly and either just be Oxygen OS in name or disappear entirely.
What will the uniform operating system look like?
As mentioned earlier, Lau was shy about the details of the new operating system. Now we just have to continue as you described the uniform operating system.
According to Lau, the unified operating system will contain the core aspects of Oxygen OS: “fast and fluid”, clean, light, no bloat and so on. Lau even pointed out that the company will go ahead without preloading apps or ads on OnePlus devices, and that the brand’s phones will still have unlockable bootloaders, but also have the core aspects of Oppos Color OS: reliable, feature-rich, unique. look etc. to be?
While it hasn’t been confirmed that much, the Oppo and OnePlus phones can get slightly different versions of the unified operating system. As far as we know, this is the only way that an operating system can be both feature-rich and lightweight. If so, we could still see “Oxygen OS” and “Color OS” on business phones, even if they are based on the same core code.
On the other hand, Gary Chen, who led the development of Oxygen OS for a long time, will lead the development of the new unified operating system. That should mean that most of the core aspects of Oxygen OS will make it into the new operating system.
Lau also told us that OnePlus and Oppo intend to further integrate software experiences on “more and more devices,” which strongly suggests that this merger will not only affect Android phones. The brands’ watches, hearing aids and other electronic devices could be based on the same software, but how will the companies differentiate themselves?
