OnePlus? More like plus yet another Android replace! Beginning subsequent 12 months, OnePlus says it can provide a further 12 months of OxygenOS updates to its smartphones, which beats out Google’s present providing of solely three years for its Pixel telephones.

OnePlus introduced the change at an occasion in London, the place it additionally revealed that Oxygen OS 13.1 will launch globally within the first half of 2023. The new working system provides options just like the Spatial Audio potential developed by Google and two new always-on show choices, certainly one of which was created with Spotify to supply a music-based AOD screensaver. OxygenOS 13.1 additionally brings a brand new “aquamorphic” design, barely associated to Google’s Material You, although you’ll nonetheless see some bits of it all through OnePlus’s interpretation of Android. OnePlus gives a walkthrough website the place you possibly can preview the UI modifications.

Gary Chen, head of software program merchandise at OnePlus, says OxygenOS is integral to the OnePlus expertise as a result of its followers affect it. “As a user-oriented company, we do everything we can to enhance user experience. With more users keeping their devices for longer, we want to make sure we can offer that possibility.”

OnePlus hasn’t supplied specifics on which of its smartphone releases from this 12 months will get 4 rounds of Android updates. Its most up-to-date releases, together with the OnePlus 10T and OnePlus 10 Pro, all promised three years of OS updates. OnePlus’s cheaper units, primarily its Nord line, have solely promised two OS updates to this point. All telephones have three years of safety updates.

By comparability, Google nonetheless says in its support documentation that it gives as much as three years of software program updates and as much as 5 years of safety updates for its Pixel units, which ought to assist preserve customers on older units patched as {hardware} ages and goes awry. Samsung, which sells essentially the most Android units within the U.S., guarantees four years of software updates and 5 years of safety updates for its flagship lineup and hottest mid-tier units.

It’s all excellent news when one other Android producer commits to the longevity of a chunk of {hardware}. It was you had been solely promised two years of updates, which meant should you had been attempting to save cash on an older system, you had been left within the mud when it comes to software program help.

Also, simply because a producer swears it received’t go away you hanging, keep in mind that it doesn’t essentially imply you’ll get each new model of Android on time. Google tends to roll out software program updates to the newest Pixel units first, adopted by older generations. Then it’s as much as the opposite OEMs to work on the brand new model of Android with their respective interpretations—OnePlus’s is OxygenOS, and Samsung’s is One UI.

At the very least, now OnePlus has some bragging rights till Google decides so as to add one other 12 months of help to the Pixel. It additionally makes it simpler for informal telephone buyers to think about a OnePlus system, growing the strain on different firms to comply with swimsuit with extra prolonged system help.