OnePlus 2 not getting Nougat: what’s next for their current lineup?

OnePlus announced a few days ago that both the OnePlus 3 and the OnePlus 3T will be receiving the Android O update, as confirmed by CEO Pete Lau on Twitter. And with the OnePlus 5 hype train currently marching forward, the Chinese-based company has confirmed that their 2015 flagship, the OnePlus 2, will not be getting the (previously promised) Android 7.0 Nougat update.

Dead on arrival

This shouldn’t come as a surprise: the support team has been denying the Android Nougat update for a while now. And the fact that the OnePlus 2 was a commercial flop didn’t help either. The phone shipped with the disastrous Snapdragon 810 processor, making many people stay on their OnePlus One. Also, the lack of NFC, unfinished software and the invite system only made things worse.

This didn’t stop OnePlus from overhyping the OP2. Right when leaks began running, their team also wanted a piece of the cake. Hence, they started slowly revealing the phone before unveiling it. They marketed it as the “2016 Flagship Killer” and partnered with YouTubers and personalities like MKBHD to build more hype for their upcoming device.

Backtracking on promises

OnePlus 2 buyers also expected reliable update support for their device. After all, they released Lollipop on April 2015 for the OnePlus One. They later got Marshmallow in April 2016. And they did, indeed, promise a Nougat update for the OnePlus 2 on an official statement. So, what made them backtrack on their promise?

The answer can only come down to planned obsolescence. The OnePlus One did not get Nougat because of it reaching end of life. After all, the phone is turning 3 years old this year. And the OnePlus X shipped with an old processor (Snapdragon 801) and the lack of drivers made an official Nougat update impossible. But OnePlus had zero reasons to drop the OP2 before the 24-month mark.

Most 2015 flagships, including those considered “flops” like the HTC One M9 or the LG G4, are getting Nougat. And Samsung, known for their bad update record, managed to deliver Nougat on the Galaxy S6. So, OnePlus dropping the OP2 on Android 6.0.1 is not only negative for their buyers, but it also speaks ill of OnePlus as a whole, given that they did promise a 7.0 update. This isn’t the first promise they broke, though: they also promised to release camera blob sources for custom ROMs. And that hasn’t been fulfilled either.

What’s next for their current lineup?

As we said earlier, the OnePlus CEO recently promised an Android O update for the OnePlus 3 and 3T. But take those words with a grain of salt. After all, OnePlus is pretty busy bees hyping up the OnePlus 5. And with a supposed Snapdragon 836 platform releasing soon, you better believe that a OnePlus 5T will come as well.

So, while they may deliver on that Android O update, don’t take it for granted. And if you care for updates and security patches, go for a Pixel or a similar phone and avoid OnePlus if possible.

Source: Android Authority, AndroidAyuda

Featured-image: AndroidPIT