OnePlus is working on Oxygen OS 13, and we’re confused

Just when we thought OnePlus will come up with a unified OS of ColorOS and OxygenOS, the company has announced its plans for Oxygen OS 13. When the company announced OnePlus 2.0, it said that it will merge the Oxygen OS skin with OPPO's Color OS skin for a "unified OS." However, it seems that it's nowhere close to happening as the company has announced OxygenOS 13, which we think will be based on Android 13.

The company has announced that it will be hosting its Open Ears Forum on February 28 (7:30 AM - 9:30 AM EST) where it will discuss OxygenOS 13 with fans and developers. Only 15 people will be allowed to join the event so turn in your application if you are interested.

oxygen os 13

Source: OnePlus

The company hasn't revealed any features of the Oxygen OS 13. Instead, it just says it wants to listen to customer feedback and wants to "co-create a perfect OxygenOS [with them]." But, this has left us rather confused. What about the ColorOS-OxygenOS unified operating system?

Oxygen OS 13? Color OS? Unified OS? What will be the OS of upcoming OnePlus smartphones?

So, when OnePlus announced the merger with OPPO, it said that it will come up with a unified OS that will share the codebase between ColorOS and OxygenOS. With OxygenOS 12, OnePlus merged some of the ColorOS code to its operating system, but it still isn't the 'unified OS' the company talked about.

The unified Android skin is said to debut on a 2022 OnePlus flagship later this year. It could launch with the OnePlus 10 Pro, but given the company has started working on the latest version of Android OS and has given it the name OxygenOS 13, it wouldn't make sense to launch the device with one version (unified OS) and then revert back to the old OS name (OxygenOS 13) when Android 13 is out.

OnePlus could call its unified OS H₂OOS as the company filed a trademark for the name H₂OOS, or H₂O operating system, some time ago. However, it seems that OnePlus is having issues in developing its merged OS. Pete Lau has previously said that the company had issues in integrating the codebase of OxygenOS and ColorOS. But, until that happens, it seems that the company will continue to develop OxygenOS and hence Oxygen OS 13. We hope OnePlus issues a clarification about its current and upcoming OS(es) soon.

Source: OnePlus