Oppo, the Chinese brand ranked the fifth biggest smartphone vendor worldwide, launched its latest mobile operating system on September 14—the Android 11-based ColorOS 11—via an online press conference, following on the heels of Google’s Android 11 announcement.
With the slogan “To Make Life Flow”, the upgraded ColorOS 11 enables more user interface (UI) customization to help users create their own always-on display, theme, and wallpaper, as well as fonts, icons, and ringtones. To further increase operating efficiency, ColorOS 11 also introduced features including a three-finger gesture translation function, Flexdrop which supports cross-device multi-tasking, and a Super Power Saving Mode that allows users to select six apps to run in low-battery situations. Additionally, Oppo claims ColorOS 11 incorporates Android 11’s newly added privacy options while featuring additional privacy and data security features.
ColorOS 11 will be included in all new Oppo phone models starting from the Find X2 Series and Reno3 Series, which were both launched in March. The company says ColorOS has over 370 million current global users.
Amid the global smartphone market downturn and rival Huawei’s refocusing on the domestic market, Oppo’s sales dropped 15.9% year-on-year in the second quarter to 28 million units, accounting for an 8% market share, following Samsung, Huawei, Apple, and Xiaomi. Global smartphone sales fell by 20.4% in the second quarter of 2020 to 295 million units, per data from advisory firm Gartner.
Earlier this month, Oppowelcomed back Pete Lau, who left his position as vice general manager at Oppo’s parent company Oujia Holdings in 2013 to co-found premium Chinese smartphone brand OnePlus, where he is still the CEO. Rejoining his former employer while retaining his role at OnePlus, Lau will take charge of Oppo’s product line and focus on cooperation between Oppo, OnePlus, and Realme.
The announcement comes just after Huawei announced last week the second version of its in-house Android replacement—the HarmonyOS operating system—as its products are blocked using Google’s Mobile Services.