OnePlus has been sharing many tweets about the OnePlus 9 series, but now we have their confirmation. Speaking via the OnePlus community forums, Gary C, OxygenOS product lead staff member, announced that the OnePlus 9 set to debut tomorrow will run on ColorOS in China.
— Pete Lau (@PeteLau) March 22, 2021
ColorOS is Oppo’s operating system, and the recent Oppo’s lead in the Chinese market makes sense as to why OnePlus will ditch their HydrogenOS for Oppo’s OS. After doing their sampling and survey in China, Gary C announced that most Chinese prefer the ColorOS, and tailoring one for them was the best thing to do.
Is it a collaboration? Well, Oppo, OnePlus, and Realme are owned by the Chinese BBK electronics. Both Oppo and Realme, before developing Realme UI, run on ColorOS, and now OnePlus follows suit. What of OxygenOS and HydrogenOS?
Speaking via the community forum, Gary C revealed that Oneplus will continue running on OxygenOS for the rest of the world. In China, however, OnePlus will switch from HydrogenOS to ColorOS, just like BBK electronic’s sister smartphones.
He stated- “…after listening to their feedback and voices, our China market devices will now be using a customized version of ColorOS, tailored specifically for OnePlus smartphones, starting with the upcoming OnePlus 9 series.” He further added, “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.”
It seems BBK electronics has got some plan for their smartphone brands because why would they use the same OS now? Or is it their plan to merge all the brands into one big brand? And is it even possible considering the difference in the phone quality, price, and the target audience that the brands serve?
News surrounding HydrogenOS isn’t clear about whether OnePlus has ditched the OS by adopting Oppo’s OS. However, Pete Lau, OnePlus CEO, has maintained that HydrogenOS is still part of their plan and that OnePlus will always preserve the OS, and the previous versions running on HydrogenOS will constantly receive updates.