Pete Lau, OnePlus CEO, made the announcement in a forum post but referred to the joining as a “deeper integration” of the two BKK Electronics subsidiaries and its R&D teams. In his post, Lau explained the merger would allow OnePlus to “have more resources at hand”, therefore allowing it to create even better products. The CEO also says that this integration will bring “faster and more stable software updates” for OnePlus devices, not to mention the possibility of lower prices with the shared R&D and production costs. More importantly, this could also mean that a possible migration of OnePlus devices to OPPO’s operating system. To be clear, this is merely speculation but still within the realm of possibility. Especially considering that the OnePlus 9 series in China already uses ColorOS instead of OxygenOS. Oppo and OnePlus have been known in recent years to release the same phone under each other’s respective brand. Last year’s Nord N100 was a rebranded Oppo A53 and the upcoming Nord 2 is speculated to be a rebranded Realme X9 Pro — which happens to be another Oppo subsidiary.
We’ll just have to wait and see how this merger affects OnePlus devices and its OS moving forward. To that end, Lau says that OnePlus will continue to operate independently, launching its products, hosting its own events, and engaging with the community. (Sources: PhoneArena[1][2], XDA, 9to5Google)
