It seems things are continuing to change for OPPO-affiliated brands OnePlus and realme. Following whispers of the former scaling back its global operations, a recent report by Smartprix has claimed that OxygenOS and realme UI are being discontinued. Furthermore, future devices will run ColorOS.
Citing a “highly reliable and seasoned” industry insider, the publication stated that OPPO has been aggressively restructuring its smartphone business. This involves consolidating both OnePlus and realme into the core brand. That said, the two will allegedly be adopting different market strategies. While OnePlus will focus more on India and China, realme will prioritise regions outside its home turf.
The changes are already becoming apparent for customers. In India, OPPO has folded OnePlus’ after-sales support into its service network. Meanwhile, customers in Europe are being pushed towards OPPO products. Now, the next step is reducing three Android skins to just one.
If you’ve been keeping up with OnePlus, this may not come as much of a surprise. Back in 2021, the company announced a merger with OPPO. That same year, the brands agreed to share the same software codebase and combine OxygenOS and ColorOS into a single unified operating system. And with OPPO reabsorbing realme, the logical next step is to merge realme UI as well.
Of course, the move is aimed at reducing R&D costs. Maintaining three separate Android skins requires a considerable amount of time, capital, and resources. So, it makes sense to take OxygenOS and realme UI out of the picture and concentrate all efforts on ColorOS. However, this does mean that users will have to adapt to a new software. For realme users, it may not be a problem given the similarities. On the flip side, OnePlus fans will probably miss the light and simple interface of OxygenOS.
For now, neither brand has confirmed that this is happening. It’s also unclear when the two operating systems will be discontinued.
(Source: SmartPrix)