OnePlus Nord2’s Oxygen OS is merged with Oppo's Color OS

OnePlus and Oppo recently revealed that the two smartphone brands would merge their Android skins Oxygen OS and Color OS, respectively. We already saw this happen with the OnePlus 9 series in China, which shipped with Color OS, replacing Hydrogen OS – OnePlus’ Android skin for the Chinese market.

OnePlus confirmed this within the reviewer’s guide of the Nord2 as mentioned by Adam Conway via Twitter. Here at GSMArena, we received the same reviewer’s guide to prepare our coverage. This information isn’t explicitly mentioned on OnePlus website, however.

The spec sheet press got has it in the reviewers guide

— Adam Conway (@AdamConwayIE) July 22, 2021

As we noted in our review of the OnePlus Nord2, we didn’t notice any huge change with the software that shipped with the new phone, but Oxygen OS has unified its code with Oppo’s Color OS behind the scenes. Otherwise, everything is pretty much the same on the surface, but the unification comes to expedite firmware updates between Oppo and OnePlus.

Here’s an excerpt from 9to5Google about the subtle change in the firmware.

OxygenOS 11.3 runs without a hitch, and while there a definite hints of Oppo’s ColorOS, none of this affects the experience in a detrimental way. The added customization options might actually be a big plus point for longtime fans of this third-party Android skin. Almost all of the tweaks and tricks that have been OxygenOS staples for as long as you can remember are present and correct.

Although the codes have merged between the two Android skins, we don’t anticipate that OnePlus would bring phones to the US with Color OS, particularly since the skin is intended for the Chinese market. Besides, Oppo has virtually zero market presence in the United States. That is, if you don’t count OnePlus.

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