In an effort to restructure operations within the OPPO group, OnePlus has pulled out of North America and Europe, as the company officially announced a few days ago. Alongside this announcement, OnePlus also conveyed that going forward, all of its smartphones eligible to receive Android 17 and beyond will receive ColorOS, OPPO’s proprietary custom skin, which OxygenOS was based on anyway since OxygenOS 11.
Although OnePlus has not yet revealed the list of devices slated to receive ColorOS, tipster Yogesh Brar has shared the details in a post on X.
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OnePlus devices are eligible for ColorOS 17 update
According to Brar on X, the following devices will be upgraded to ColorOS 17 when the update arrives:
OnePlus flagships
- OnePlus 15 and OnePlus 15R
- OnePlus 13, OnePlus 13R, and OnePlus 13s
- OnePlus 12 and OnePlus 12R
- OnePlus 11
- OnePlus Open
OnePlus Nord series
- OnePlus Nord 6
- OnePlus Nord CE 6
- OnePlus Nord CE 6 Lite
- OnePlus Nord 5
- OnePlus Nord CE 5
- OnePlus Nord 4
It’s worth noting that all of the above-mentioned devices were promised at least three major OS upgrades at launch; therefore, when the update roadmap is officially announced, these smartphones are guaranteed to be a part of it.
Since many of the recently released OnePlus devices are missing from Brar’s list, devices like the OnePlus N6, OnePlus Pad 4, and most likely the upcoming OnePlus N6x are likely to get the ColorOS 17 update as well. Apart from this, the OnePlus Pad 3, OnePlus Pad 2, OnePlus Pad Lite, and OnePlus Pad Go 2 should also bag the update.
In other news, Realme has officially confirmed that its devices slated to receive Android 17 will now be upgraded to ColorOS 17. Just like OxygenOS, Realme UI is being discontinued following the company’s exit from the Chinese market.
When will ColorOS 17 be released
As is the tradition, one can expect OnePlus (or OPPO) to roll out the Closed Beta testing invitations to its current flagship and high-end smartphones, such as the OnePlus 15 and OnePlus 15R, in a few weeks from now, i.e. by the end of August or the start of September. But given that the stable Android 17 update was released way ahead of schedule this year for Google Pixels, the ColorOS 17 update could also be fast-tracked.
What to expect on ColorOS 17
With OxygenOS 17 out of the way, there’s a lot to look forward to in ColorOS 17. If the leaks and official details revealed by ColorOS’ executive are to be believed, the firmware will prioritise improving the core experience, resulting in faster performance, better efficiency, and greater system stability.
A major design change could arrive in the form of rounded corners on every first-party element, such as pop-up menus and buttons. On the other hand, one can also expect improvements to OPPO’s Lumious Rendering Engine, which is responsible for displaying real-time blur and light effects in various parts of the UI. Per leaks, this could result in more transparency in quick settings panels, menus, and other areas.
Until OxygenOS 16, OnePlus smartphones featured several distinct elements even though the entire skin ran on ColorOS’ codebase. These included the iconic ‘red accented’ clock on the lockscreen and status bar, rounded brightness and volume sliders (ColorOS and Realme UI come with rectangular sliders), a distinct ‘About phone’ page, and a couple of exclusive easter eggs, such as the “Never Settle” reveal when entering ‘1+=’ in the Calculator app.
It remains to be seen whether OnePlus devices post the ColorOS 17 update will continue to carry such unique elements, or will OPPO completely axe these in favour of a more streamlined software for all the brands, i.e. OPPO, OnePlus and Realme.
