Recently, OnePlus announced the full integration of its smartphone brand with OPPO. The company will now function as a brand under OPPO but it still retains its independence. The announcement gave rise to several questions for which the company has tried to provide answers. One of such persistent questions pertains to what happens to the much-loved OxygenOS. There were rumors that OnePlus smartphones will now run ColorOS. OnePlus later clarified that it will be retaining the OxygenOS. 
However, in a new twist, the Chinese brand has now announced the integration of OyygenOS with ColorOS. According to the press release, the move is aimed at leveraging the resources available due to the merger with OPPO. Obviously, OPPO has significantly more resources and a larger technology platform, tools OnePlus hopes to utilize in a bid to ensure each of its products can receive stable and timely software updates, while still retaining the world-class user experience for which OPPO’s software is known.
Make no mistake, the integration of the two top-notch OS may likely go unnoticed by OxygenOS users as it won’t affect the overall usage and interface. Instead, it is the codebase of OxygenOS that is integrated with ColorOS. OnePlus says that the move will provide a more capable team of developers and a treasure trove of R&D resources.
The company insists the global OnePlus smartphones will still run OxygenOS and assures that the build will now be on a more stable and stronger platform. Upcoming OnePlus phones will run OxygenOS built on the new platform while existing models that are still within the maintenance schedule will receive the update via OTA alongside the Android 12 update.
In addition, OnePlus also announced a huge improvement in its software maintenance schedule relating to the lifecycle of its smartphones. In this regard, flagship models from the OnePlus 8, including the T/R variants, will receive three major Android updates and 4 years of security updates. This means the OnePlus 8 series launched in 2020 with Android 10 will also get updated to Android 12 and 13 whenever they roll out while the OnePlus 9 series will get updated up to Android 14.
The company also disclosed that the first-gen Nord and Nord CE models as well as newer models will receive two major Android updates and three years of security updates. Unfortunately, the Nord N series, from the first-gen N10 and N100 will only get one major Android update and three years of security updates.
All other flagship models before the OnePlus 8 series will still retain the previous update schedule of two major Android updates and three years of security updates.
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