For years, the words “OnePlus” and “OxygenOS” were almost inseparable. Back when the company was trying to disrupt the smartphone market, OxygenOS was one of its biggest selling points. My personal favourite remains OxygenOS 10 and OxygenOS 11. It was clean, fast, free from unnecessary bloat, and felt much closer to stock Android than the heavily customised skins offered by rivals. Many enthusiasts bought a OnePlus phone as much for the software as they did for the hardware, including myself.
Fast forward to 2026, and that identity has become increasingly blurred. A leak via a new report suggests OnePlus could finally retire the OxygenOS branding altogether and move completely to ColorOS. Realme would follow suite where Realme UI will be replaced with ColorOS as well. While OnePlus and Realme haven’t officially confirmed such a move, it wouldn’t exactly come as a surprise. The software foundations of both operating systems have been shared for years, and the differences between them have steadily disappeared. Moreover, in regions like China, OnePlus already made the switch from OxygenOS to ColorOS years ago.
Ironically, if this change happens today in regions like India, it probably won’t matter to most users.
OxygenOS stopped being the OxygenOS people fell in love with
Ask any long-time OnePlus fan what made the brand special, and OxygenOS will almost certainly be part of the conversation. The early versions offered something refreshingly simple. There were thoughtful additions like Shelf, Zen Mode, Reading Mode, and customisation features that complemented Android instead of overwhelming it. Animations were smooth, performance was snappy, and updates usually arrived quickly.
But that philosophy slowly changed after OnePlus’ deeper integration with OPPO. Instead of maintaining two separate software platforms, OnePlus and OPPO began sharing a common codebase starting with OxygenOS 12. The controversial plan to merge OxygenOS and ColorOS into a single operating system may have been scrapped publicly, but behind the scenes, development continued to converge.
OnePlus acknowledged back then that “While OxygenOS and ColorOS will continue to be developed on the same codebase – to allow for faster updates and better build quality – OxygenOS and ColorOS will remain independent brand properties. This new course was taken in accordance with feedback from our Community – we understand users of OxygenOS and ColorOS want each operating system to remain separate from each other with their own distinct properties.”
Each update made OxygenOS look and behave a little more like ColorOS. When it began with OxygenOS 12, I couldn’t help but draw comparisons between the two and how OnePlus’ software had suddenly lost all its charm. By the time OxygenOS 15 arrived, the differences had become largely cosmetic.
The name matters less than the experience
For enthusiasts, losing the OxygenOS branding feels symbolic. It marks the end of an era where OnePlus had a unique software identity. For the average smartphone buyer, however, software names rarely influence purchase decisions.
Most people care about questions like:
- Does the phone feel smooth?
- Is the battery life good?
- Does it receive updates?
- Are there annoying ads?
- Does the camera app work reliably?
Whether the software is called OxygenOS or ColorOS isn’t something many users think about after the initial setup. In fact, ask a casual OnePlus owner which version of OxygenOS they’re running, and chances are they won’t know.
ColorOS isn’t the villain it once was
Part of the resistance also comes from ColorOS’ reputation several years ago. Earlier versions were often criticised for excessive customisation, inconsistent design, duplicate apps, and features that felt more cluttered than useful.
But ColorOS has changed significantly in the past couple of years and for me personally, it remains one of the best Android skins presently available out there. Features like fluid animations, improved multitasking, better battery optimisation, AI-powered productivity tools, and deeper ecosystem integration have made it one of Android’s more polished interfaces. In several areas, it’s now objectively more feature-rich than the older OxygenOS ever was.
That doesn’t mean everyone will prefer it. Minimalists may still miss the cleaner approach that made OxygenOS famous. But calling today’s ColorOS a poor software experience would simply be unfair.
The hardware matters more today
The reality is that OnePlus itself has changed as the company no longer competes solely on software. Its recent smartphones focus heavily on hardware improvements, faster charging, brighter displays, larger batteries, better cameras, AI features, and ecosystem products.
For many buyers, these factors carry far more weight than the software branding. If a OnePlus flagship offers excellent battery life, flagship performance, years of updates, and competitive pricing, few customers will reject it simply because the settings menu says ColorOS instead of OxygenOS.
The enthusiast era is over
Perhaps the biggest reason this change doesn’t matter anymore is because the smartphone market itself has changed. A decade ago, software identity was one of the easiest ways for Android brands to stand out.
Today, nearly every major Android skin has matured. Samsung’s One UI is polished, while Google’s Pixel UI is also cleaner than ever. Then, Nothing OS has carved out its own visual identity and skins like ColorOS, HyperOS, MagicOS, and other Android skins have also become increasingly capable.
Most users adapt to a new interface within a few days. And the debates that once dominated enthusiast forums rarely reflect how mainstream buyers actually use their phones. While OnePlus still has its own community of enthusiasts, we can’t deny the fact that it is now more of a mainstream brand here in India which is one of its key markets after China, especially now that the brand is reportedly closing down shop in regions like the US. It has already stepped foot in new price segments with launches like the OnePlus N6, and to serve its customer base better, replacing OxygenOS with ColorOS may be the superior move in the brand’s eyes.
Branding isn’t what made OxygenOS special
If OnePlus officially retires the OxygenOS name, many fans will understandably feel nostalgic. OxygenOS represented an important chapter in Android history. It helped establish OnePlus as the enthusiast’s favourite brand and proved that software could become a reason to buy a smartphone. But that version of OxygenOS disappeared years ago.
Today’s OxygenOS already shares much of its DNA with ColorOS. Renaming it would mostly acknowledge a reality that has existed behind the scenes for several software generations. The bigger question isn’t what the software is called, but whether OnePlus continues delivering fast, reliable, well-optimised software with timely updates and meaningful features.
OnePlus has confirmed before that a unified codebase helps in faster and more stable updates and with ColorOS, that could get even better. ColorOS already works like a charm in OPPO’s flagships like the Find X9 series and at the time we used it, there were some features which hadn’t even arrived in OnePlus 15 at that time, suggesting OPPO’s ColorOS is first in line to be updated with new features, followed by OxygenOS.
If OnePlus does manage to succeed with stable and feature-rich updates through ColorOS, most users won’t care what name appears during the boot animation and perhaps, that’s the clearest sign of how much both OnePlus and the Android market have evolved.
Author: Abhishek Malhotra
Source: The Mobile Indian
Reviewed By: Editorial Team
