OnePlus 'officially' merges with Oppo to build better products, rolls out faster software updates

The two brands, which are owned by BBK Electronics, have been working together at some level or the other for the past one year.

OnePlus will "continue to operate independently."

OnePlus is officially merging with Oppo. Founder and CEO Pete Lau said in a blog post on Wednesday that the deeper integration with Oppo will allow OnePlus to build better products and roll out faster and more stable software updates to existing products. The two brands, owned by BBK Electronics, have been working together at some stage over the past year, when Lau took on additional responsibilities overseeing product strategy for both OnePlus and Oppo. Those changes have had a "positive impact," Lau said, although he has not yet mentioned the nature of the association. Nor did he elaborate on the roadmap for the future.

What he said was that OnePlus "will continue to operate independently" by "launching OnePlus products, organizing events and engaging directly with you (the OnePlus community) for feedback via OnePlus channels as before." Reading between the lines, it's also clear that OnePlus will certainly - and increasingly - give more options to its portfolio to its enthusiast community than ever before. And in that process, OnePlus will probably also be looking at adding new customers.

Also watch

The affordable OnePlus N200 will go on sale from June 25

“We are at a turning point for the future of OnePlus. As we begin to grow our product portfolio, we are able to give you more options than ever before," Lau said, adding, "We want to continue to give you the highest quality OnePlus experience possible. And to do that, we have to mold ourselves as a team and a brand."

The merger isn't too surprising. Carl Pei's sudden exit raised many eyebrows and then when Lau shook hands with Oppo, things started to become very clear. OnePlus launched the OnePlus 9 series with Oppo's ColorOS software in China. Prior to this, all OnePlus phones sold in mainland China were based on HydrogenOS.

OnePlus once had separate teams and resources working on HydrogenOS and OxygenOS, something that was difficult to maintain even from a pure operational standpoint when OnePlus was just getting started. This was something that OnePlus has been very vocal about. Over time, as OnePlus launched more phones and ventured into new markets, those conversations were finally put to rest.

A sigh of relief for large parts of the world, including India, was that OnePlus continued to launch phones with OxygenOS in markets outside China and continues to do so. Today's announcement is thin on technical details including how exactly OnePlus and Oppo will work on future products and how to ensure faster software updates for both OnePlus products.

“I believe this change will be positive for our community and our users. With this deeper integration with OPPO, we will have more resources to build even better products for you.It will also allow us to be more efficient Will,” Lau said in the blog.