Even last year, OnePlus introduced its first mid-range phone in years in the form of the OnePlus Nord. The device is equipped with a mid-range Snapdragon 765G that provides 5G connectivity. It also features an OLED panel and four cameras with OIS – something not often seen on mid-range devices. Sure, the OnePlus Nord costs more than most mid-range phones, but it's still not as expensive as a flagship.
In October, the device received two more siblings, named OnePlus Nord N10 and OnePlus Nord N100. With more devices, the OnePlus development team has more challenges, such as ensuring constant updates for each of them. Today, the brand is releasing OxygenOS 10.5.11 for the original Nord.
The new update as mentioned above brings OxygenOS version 10.5.11. So it is still based on Android 10. Some users were expecting the Android 11 update to finally arrive with OxygenOS 11 for this device. But it seems that it is not so. OnePlus is spending more time updating its smartphones than last year. The reason is that, as we said before, the brand has a lot more devices to update.
The new update brings some improvements, bug fixes and security fixes for January 2021. Unfortunately, it doesn't bring any functionality. We don't expect any new feature now that the company's focus is obviously on OxygenOS 11.
Unfortunately, OxygenOS 10.5.11 does not include the February 2021 security patch
Unfortunately, for the OnePlus Nord series, the Chinese firm is slower than other companies. So far, other manufacturers such as Samsung, Realme, Xiaomi and others are already releasing security patches in February 2021. Several mid-range phones are currently receiving Android 11. As we mentioned earlier, OnePlus definitely needs to restructure its software department. It has released more smartphones, but the number of developers offering updates doesn't seem to be growing in the same way.
This explains why the brand is taking so long to introduce OxygenOS 11 to its last year's phones. Samsung, which was considered one of the worst companies in the past, is now offering Android 11 for several of its phones, even the mid-range phones.
From the OnePlus portfolio, only the OnePlus 11, 8 Pro and 8T have received the Android 8 update so far. OnePlus Nord has already had three open beta rounds testing Android 11. So, we can assume that the brand is in the final stages of testing Android 11. Hopefully, these devices will receive OxygenOS 11 before the arrival of the OnePlus 9 series. As OnePlus tends to shift its focus to new phones
