OnePlus merging HydrogenOS and OxygenOS

Although OnePlus is offering the same flagship killers to all markets they can reach, the company decided to split its effort of creating a custom Android build in two. First, they unleashed OxygenOS for the global markets, then followed with HydrogenOS, a variant exclusively available for Chinese customers. Now, they are bringing these two together as OxygenOS, dropping HydrogenOS for good.

The main difference between OxygenOS and its flavor for the Chinese market is that HydrogenOS is heavily tweaked, unlike its sibling that is very close to vanilla Android. According to OnePlus, the main reason for dropping HydrogenOS is to improve update times - "The main benefit of combining our team resources is to speed up software updates. We know we have some room to continue improving there, and this is an important step in the right direction."

Since the company's two custom Android builds are quite different, choosing which features to keep and which ones should go will be done based on the feedback received from its global user community. As mentioned by some insiders familiar with the matter, the first OxygenOS build that will be the result of this merger will carry version number 3.5, but this remains to be seen.