OnePlus Confirms It's Phasing out OxygenOS in Favour of ColorOS 17

OnePlus has officially confirmed that it's exiting global markets in favour of bigger markets like India. In regards to this, the brand has phased out OxygenOS in favour of ColorOS 17.

Eligible OnePlus Users Will Be Able to Voluntarily Update to ColorOS 17

The confirmation comes from Ford, Vice President of OnePlus India Business, who addressed the OnePlus India Community directly following recent reports and speculation around the brand's future in the country.

Ford confirms that with the official release of ColorOS 17, users with eligible OnePlus phones will have the option to voluntarily update to ColorOS 17. He adds that customers will continue to get the same product support, software updates, warranty coverage, and after-sales service that come with the OnePlus experience.

OnePlus's relationship with its own software has gone through several shifts since the brand's inception:

2014: The original OnePlus One launched with Cyanogen OS, built on CyanogenMod, before a public falling out with Cyanogen Inc. forced OnePlus to look elsewhere.
2015: OnePlus introduced its own in-house OxygenOS for global markets, alongside a separate Hydrogen OS built specifically for China.
2021 onwards: OnePlus and Oppo merge and the two brands quietly start merging their software codebases, with OxygenOS increasingly borrowing from ColorOS under the hood. In fact, while OnePlus phones in India and other global markets continued running on OxygenOS, OnePlus phones in China ran on ColorOS.
2026: OnePlus has now confirmed that it's officially retiring OxygenOS in favour of ColorOS, unifying its software experience with Oppo's ecosystem.

That decade-long journey makes this shift feel less like an ending and more like OnePlus formally catching up to a merger that's been underway for years now. And going by Ford's letter, the brand isn't treating this as a moment of retreat, at least not in India.

Ford writes that "India continues to be one of OnePlus' most important markets globally," and that the brand's commitment to its users and community "remains unwavering." He points to the brand's recent momentum as proof, noting that OnePlus has launched four new products over the past few months.

OnePlus N6 colourways and design showcased — Image Credit: OnePlus (edited by Sagnik Das Gupta/ Beebom Gadgets)

The brand also introduced a new "N" series of budget smartphones with the recent launch of the OnePlus N6, which Ford says has received a strong response. Additionally, Ford states that with the upcoming OnePlus N6x India launch, the brand is planning on "making the OnePlus experience even more accessible while continuing to offer products that cater to a wide range of users and budgets."

In addition, the brand highlights that OnePlus's after-sales network, expanded with Oppo, now covers more than 600 service centres across India.

With OxygenOS on its way out and ColorOS 17 taking its place, this is undoubtedly one of the biggest software shifts in OnePlus's history.