OnePlus and Oppo announce closer partnership: The end for OxygenOS?
This Wednesday (16), OnePlus CEO Pete Lau announced that OnePlus and Oppo will remain independent from each other, but will have closer ties. The news is hardly surprising amid the company's recent releases and announcements.
- OnePlus and Oppo will grow together in the future.
- "OnePlus" will remain as a brand, however, and will continue to release its own products in the future.
- OnePlus CEO Pete Lau made the announcement on the OnePlus forum.
OnePlus has established themselves as a mobile phone maker for the past eight years, but they are now finally giving up the independence they gained. As OnePlus CEO Pete Lau now announced on the OnePlus forum, the bond with BBK's sister Oppo is getting even tighter.
The announcement comes at a time when the Chinese company's Nord lineup is being expanded, both with the already officially unveiled OnePlus Nord CE and the more affordable Nord N200, which will be launch on June 25.
OnePlus and Oppo have always been closely linked
Nevertheless, some longtime readers shouldn't be surprised by the news OnePlus announced today. As is well known, OnePlus and Oppo are both under the umbrella of the corporate parent BBK and already since last year Pete Lau is also responsible for the product strategies of the two companies. Among other things, this resulted in the fact that some OnePlus models - such as the upcoming N200 - are basically just rebrandings of Oppo models.
So in the future, they want to grow closer together without throwing the OnePlus brand overboard for it. In the OnePlus forum, Pete Lau explains:
As for the OnePlus brand – we will continue to operate independently, focused on providing you with the best possible products and experience as we have always done. We will continue launching OnePlus products, holding events (hopefully in person soon) and engaging directly with you for feedback through the same OnePlus channels as before. OnePlus’ commitment to you remains the same.
What's going to happen to OxygenOS?
So we'll continue to see OnePlus smartphones, but the question is what will become of OxygenOS in the future. In China, OnePlus is already ditching HydrogenOS, which is only available there, in favor of Oppo's ColorOS. Just as both companies can expect synergies in product development and marketing strategies, the same could then apply to the software interface.
Whether this means the popular OxygenOS will suffer, or rather, ColorOS will benefit from collaboration, only time will tell. Write your opinion about OnePlus perspectives in the comments!
I would hate to lose the slim OS that is Oxygen. If ColorOS is a fatter slower version of OS then I wouldn't want it, the great thing about OnePlus has always been high end hardware at reasonable prices, which has changed recently, and an OS that doesn't bog you down with a bunch of crap overlays and widgets that do nothing but get in the way of using the phone or apps.
Gee....Oppo, which owns OnePlus per se, who manufactures EVERYTHING for OnePlus, is now going to merge with OnePlus. The entire OnePlus thing was to get Oppo outside of China. Now that they have achieved that goal, look for OnePlus to disappear in a couple years. Might as well. They went from a flagship killer, to a flagship. Way too expensive.
Now we know why the pres jumped ship.