OnePlus announces mark the date, and Google pushes the brakes. What"s going on? Android 14 is the upcoming version of Google"s Operating System. Android 14 has been in beta testing for the better half of a year, and it was scheduled to launch on September 5th, according to the Google News channel on Telegram. It is slated to come with many new security measures and features like better memory management.
Phone manufacturer OnePlus was also developing its flavor of the Operating System based on Android 14, named OxygenOS 14. It announced in a blog post the stable release of OxygenOS 14 scheduled for September 25, in line with Google"s launch of Android 14.
According to an insider, the source code release that was supposed to take place on September 5th has been delayed by a month to October 4th, 2023, which coincides with the Pixel 8 launch event. The Pixel 8 will be Google"s latest installment of its phone lineup with exclusive features, including an Audio Magic Eraser and ultra-wideband (UWB) chip for better device location tracking.
This seems to be a last-minute decision as the OnePlus announcement was made only a few days prior, and OEMs were anticipating the public source code release by now. It is unprecedented for an OEM to launch an OS before Google"s source code release. The unusual move by Google is also a first for the search giant, as the release date was planned in advance, according to the leaker.
Hearing now that the source code release of Android 14 has been delayed to next month.
— Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) September 5, 2023
This decision seems to have been made very late, as even OEMs were anticipating that the release would be today.
OEMs are now being told that vulnerabilities detailed in the Android 14… pic.twitter.com/I137j0F0x5
OnePlus in its blog post, says, "Like clockwork, OnePlus strives to be among the first to adapt the new flavor of a major Android release to its OS". Ironically, it might be the first to launch the OS unless the date is postponed in light of the incident. We can expect to see an updated post from OnePlus about the push of the launch date. OxygenOS 14 is coming with a new proprietary performance platform named the Trinity Engine, which can achieve greater efficiency, according to OnePlus.
Google may have made this move to launch Android 14 AOSP and its new Pixel device on the same day. Rahman says OEMs are being made aware that security vulnerability patches for the latest version of Android will be published on October 4, 2023. Whether OnePlus will proceed with its pre-scheduled release date and publish OxygenOS 14 with vulnerabilities or wait for Google to launch first, remains a question.
Source: X