Ahead of its November launch, Oppo introduced ColorOS 15, with major UI updates. If at first glance the changes are interesting, certain elements seem strongly “inspired” by iOS 18. You just need to look at the control center to understand it.
ColorOS 15 or iColor 15?
After confirming that you have copied the iPhone 16 camera control button, Oppo revealed ColorOS 15 during an event in China. The one based on Android 15 focuses on a new user interface and animations. It features a new look with new icons, dynamic lighting effects, natural light and shadow elements in the user interface.
The “Aurora and Tidal Engine” enables parallel animations for smoother transitions between apps, while “Motion Effects” improves animations in Oppo apps and third-party apps. Additionally, behind-the-scenes improvements are claimed to increase app installation speed by 26% and improve app responsiveness by approximately 18%.
Additionally, like Samsung’s One UI 7, Oppo has separated notifications from the Control Center. A change that should arrive in Android 16 by the way. Further afield, AI-powered features aren’t far behind, including new natural language interactions with Oppo’s XiaoBu Assistant, which can circle content on the screen to perform deeper searches. AI is also integrated for image processing tasks like deblurring, image upscaling, etc. It can even summarize content in apps like Notes and Voice Recorder.
Does all this remind you of anything? This is normal because, beyond the similarity between the functionalities, there is above all a striking resemblance in terms of implementation. Taking a look at Oppo’s promotional images and videos, we notice a clear imitation of the Dynamic Island, a customizable lock screen that could fit on an iPhone, sharing between phones via a sort of AirDrop, a center cloned control or even an AI interface which is none other than that of the new Siri to come. Even the animation with the colored borders is identical. Apple must be angry, because China does not have the same considerations as other countries regarding copying.
Here is a short video of ColorOS 15:
When Oppo’s ColorOS 15 “takes inspiration” from Apple’s iOS 18! Look carefully at the control center, “Siri” and other lock screen. pic.twitter.com/c2UFJGNjrW
— Alban Martin (@AlbanMartin_fr) October 18, 2024
Launch date
ColorOS 15 will begin rolling out in November for devices such as the Find X7, and will expand to many Oppo and OnePlus devices in China and around the world until March next year. OnePlus, meanwhile, announced that it will unveil OxygenOS 15 – essentially a global version of ColorOS 15 – next week. More changes are expected, with OnePlus trying to innovate rather than copy.