OnePlus has delayed the Android 11 update for the OnePlus 7 and 7T series phones due to technical issues. In an official statement posted on OnePlus Forum, the company said its 2019 flagships have encountered an issue with data decryption after upgrading to Android 11 during internal testing.
The company says it is working with Qualcomm’s technical team to fix the issue as early as possible. It expects a resolution by the end of this week. And if everything goes as per the plan, OnePlus hopes to start a closed beta within this month, followed by an open beta soon after.
The OnePlus 7 series comprises four models powered by two different Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets. The OnePlus 7 and 7 Pro run on the Snapdragon 855 SoC while the newer OnePlus 7T and 7T Pro get the slightly more powerful Snapdragon 855+.
Android 11 for OnePlus 7, 7T delayed
OnePlus started pushing Android 11-based OxygenOS 11 to the OnePlus 8 series in October. Soon after, a company spokesperson said that the OnePlus 7 series would get the update in December. However, technical issues have forced a delay in those plans.
Do note that OnePlus maintains two different custom Android skins for its smartphones, namely HydrogenOS and OxygenOS. There’s not much of a difference but the former is optimized for the home market, China, while the latter is designed for the global versions of its phones.
Usually, the company develops HydrogenOS first before porting the new features to OxygenOS. This issue of data decryption failure pertains to Android 11-based HydrogenOS 11 for the OnePlus 7 series. This essentially means the company had begun internal testing for the new software in China. So if everything goes well from here on, the first OxygenOS 11 open beta for the OnePlus 7 series should arrive in January.
OxygenOS 11 brings several new features and enhancements to OnePlus’ custom Android skin. Always-On Display (AOD) is one of the notable new features. The user interface also now resembles Samsung’s One UI, making for easier one-handed usage.
OnePlus also entered the mid-range segment with the Nord lineup this year. It has already launched three models – the OnePlus Nord, Nord N10 5G, and Nord N100 – in the series. All three phones debuted with Android 11 and would be making the jump to Android 11 in the coming months.
In a shocking revelation last month, OnePlus said the Nord N10 5G and Nord N100 would get only one major Android OS update. That means the two affordable OnePlus phones would end their lives on Android 11. The OnePlus Nord, meanwhile, should get updates until Android 12.