Oppo promises to beat Google Pixels in the update department

In late November, OnePlus announced its new software policy, promising four OS updates and five years of security patches for its upcoming devices. Given that OnePlus is now just a sub-brand of Oppo and both companies share their software resources, it was only a matter of time before the latter also announced its new software update policy. Like OnePlus, Oppo is also promising four major ColorOS updates along with five years of security patches for its “selected flagship models” starting in 2023.

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This means after Samsung and OnePlus, even Oppo is now promising longer OS updates for its flagship devices than Google. Despite being the first to receive OS updates, Google only promises three OS updates for the Pixel 6 and Pixel 7 series.

Sadly, the wording in Oppo’s announcement makes it clear that the new software update policy won’t apply to its existing flagship devices. The company’s mid-range phones are also not eligible, which is a large chunk of the devices Oppo sells worldwide. The new policy will be effective for global Oppo users, and the company’s update strategy for China—its home market—should be different. While not mentioned, Oppo will likely roll out security patches for its devices every other month, just like OnePlus.

In its announcement, Oppo also highlights that it has managed to update 33 of its smartphones globally with Android 13-based ColorOS 13 since its launch on August 18th. That’s over 50% more devices compared with ColorOS 12 and the fastest rollout schedule ever in the company’s history.

Unsurprisingly, OnePlus also did an excellent job in updating its devices to Android 13 this year. It beat Samsung to become the first company to update its flagship device to this year’s latest Android release. It looks like Oppo and OnePlus’s strategy of working off the same OS codebase is finally bearing fruit.