If you thought OnePlus was shady by not updating the OnePlus 2 to Android 7.0 Nougat, wait till you hear this. The Android O update for the OnePlus 3 and 3T will be the last major OS update for the devices, a OnePlus employee confirmed on the company’s official forums.
The news came as part of a frequently asked questions thread, which was a result of OnePlus 3 and 3T users questioning why the company updated the OnePlus 5, more than the other two devices had been updated since they were launched. The employee, David, explained that OnePlus 5 got more updates to better satisfy user’s needs and boost the device’s capabilities. We can assume he meant bug fixes, and support patches such as the recently launched update which enabled EIS support for 4K videos.
He also answered a question regarding the OnePlus 3 and 3T, which says that the devices will not have the same software features such as Reading Mode and Off-screen gestures, which the OnePlus 5 has, because of lack of hardware limitations such as the RGB sensor and the DCI-P3 screen calibration on the older devices.
I think it is fair to say that is acceptable, but what isn't is OnePlus' stand on software support for the devices. It appears that it is moving to a 1 year schedule for updating its devices to a major version of Android, after which the devices will only get security updates. In fact, it hasn’t even been a year since the OnePlus 3T was launched, ouch.