Microsoft is in a unique position as AI overtakes the tech industry. It’s one of the world’s largest cloud providers and software-as-a-service companies, while also holding valuable stakes in the two biggest AI labs, OpenAI and Anthropic.

Those incentives are starting to clash as Microsoft posts blockbuster financial results. The company just reported an extremely profitable quarter with $90 billion in revenue and net income of $35.8 billion. For the fiscal year, which ended June 30, Microsoft reported $331.8 billion in revenue with a net income of $133.7 billion for the year.

And CEO Satya Nadella is not about to let the trajectory of Anthropic and OpenAI — which are expanding into applications and agentic infrastructure that could ultimately let them own customer relationships — derail that kind of cash.

Nadella has been preaching to enterprises to use multiple models and to stop relying on the frontier AI labs for the agentic harness/app layer.

Doing so is dangerous, he’s been saying, because it requires companies to share too many of their internal secrets with model makers of dubious trustworthiness. He knows his customers. Enterprise IT fears both data leaks and being locked into a vendor.

Now he has openly told Wall Street analysts during the company’s quarterly conference call Wednesday that this is an opportunity for Microsoft to sell customers its own homegrown models, alongside agents, AI security and more, while promising lower costs.

In other words, he’s pitching Microsoft as an alternative to many of the upscale services that OpenAI and Anthropic are developing for their own growth.

When UBS analyst Karl Keirstead specifically asked Nadella to weigh in on the open vs. closed-sourced debate roiling the AI industry, and how Microsoft will benefit from it, Nadella came out swinging.

“The goal is to have the firm be in control of their own destiny,” the CEO said of enterprises. “We are very, very clear about the architectural sort of design of the platform, which is you got to keep your harness separate from the model … that means any model at any given time is swappable.”

Microsoft, of course, sells a menu of harnesses (aka AI agents), too, under the Copilot name, including its coding agent GitHub Copilot. Coding agents are where much of the AI dollars are being spent today.

And he used the high-profile incident from last week as proof of his warnings.

“If you look even at the Hugging Face incident, the biggest thing that we should take away from that is you can’t sort of depend on any one model,” Nadella said. “You will maybe need multiple models to even remediate some challenges that get caused by one model. Like that’s the way to think about it, right? Which is you can’t be subject to a refusal of one model.”

The incident involved an unreleased model from OpenAI breaking out of its sandbox and successfully mounting a full-scale hack on Hugging Face, all in pursuit of besting a benchmark. Trying to understand what happened, Hugging Face at first tried to use a private frontier model (which it hasn’t named) that refused to help it. So it turned to the Chinese open-source model Z.ai GLM 5.2 to analyze logs and defend its infrastructure. The incident has so shocked the industry that even Sam Altman is now saying that maybe AI development should slow down a bit.

Nadella also made clear that Microsoft is happily selling its own homegrown models, the MAI family, on its own homegrown AI chips, Maya, and pitching them as cheaper alternatives.

“Every customer wants the right model for each task based on quality, latency, cost, and compliance. We offer the broadest model catalog in the cloud with over 11,000 models, including the leads from OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral, xAI, as well as our own MAI family,” he said.

He added: “We’re also accelerating our own model development. We announced more than a dozen new models across image, voice, transcription, coding, security, including our first reasoning model, MAI thinking one, all with cost-efficient inference at the core for the enterprise use cases. We are co-designing these models with our silicon, and we are seeing 40% better performance per watt when running MAI models on Maya 200.”

As for Mythos? Nadella pointed to Microsoft’s new Mythos competitor announced earlier this week, MAI Cyber One Flash. It “achieves better performance than the much larger Mythos model, but at half the cost when combined with our multi-agent security harness,” he said.

Sure, the Microsoft CEO says that enterprises should use the frontier models that OpenAI and Anthropic offer in their mix. But his bigger message is: don’t trust them enough to rely on them.

Eligible existing OnePlus phones will be offered an optional upgrade from OxygenOS to ColorOS 17.

Android Authority reported that the transition is expected after the official release of ColorOS 17, though OnePlus has not announced a rollout date. Whether that lands as a minor footnote or something more significant depends entirely on why you bought a OnePlus phone in the first place.

This piece is for the users who bought one because of its software. For everyone else, it mostly doesn’t matter.

What has been confirmed?

Let’s start with what’s actually new.

According to Android Authority, OnePlus is offering eligible Western-market devices a voluntary move to ColorOS 17, while users may remain on OxygenOS. OnePlus isn’t layering more ColorOS influence on top of it. ColorOS becomes the available upgrade path for eligible devices. That’s the freshly confirmed piece.

Everything underneath it was already true.

By early 2026, both operating systems had converged on a unified Universal ColorOS codebase. A technical comparison published about two and a half months ago by Adam Lobo found the remaining differences are “primarily aesthetic” — OxygenOS 16 is, in that framing, effectively a skin. The R&D divisions merged in January 2021.

A long-term review of the OnePlus 12 from 9to5Google two years ago put it plainly: “OxygenOS isn’t OxygenOS anymore.”

The erosion started at least three major software versions back.

An Android Authority analysis from three and a half years ago noted that OxygenOS 13 was already functionally equivalent to ColorOS 13 with a handful of OnePlus-specific tweaks. That same analysis cited analyst Neil Shah’s prediction that OnePlus would become an OPPO sub-brand analogous to how iQOO operates under Vivo, with the enthusiast audience deprioritized in favor of mainstream volume. That prediction has aged well.

So the branding change doesn’t cause anything. It confirms it. For users who valued OxygenOS as a distinct platform with a distinct philosophy, this week’s announcement matters because it closes the door on any remaining ambiguity about what OnePlus is now. The losses documented below aren’t speculative — they’re the concrete cost of that closure.

The OxygenOS to ColorOS transition in daily use

Software identity isn’t built from spec sheets. It’s built from the thirty small interactions that happen before lunch. That’s where the transition lands hardest.

Start with visual language. OxygenOS 16 maintains the minimalist Never Settle aesthetic: red accents, a restrained color palette, the classic 1+ clock widget. ColorOS 16 takes a different direction: a light-and-shadow design language, prominent rounded corners, a stacked notification center, and Fluid Cloud, a pill-shaped UI element for real-time alerts that draws obvious inspiration from Apple’s Dynamic Island, as the technical comparison showed. You may not hate it. But it is precisely the aesthetic that OnePlus users chose not to have.

The functional regression that will create the most daily friction is Shelf. In OxygenOS, a right swipe from the home screen opened a glanceable panel for widgets, recent contacts, and quick notes. In ColorOS, that gesture is associated with Google Discover. Accessing Shelf now requires swiping down from the top of the screen, which directly conflicts with the gesture for the notification drawer and Control Center, Android Authority confirmed. A reliable one-handed shortcut becomes a two-step interruption.

Background app management is a subtler but persistent change. OxygenOS was consistently praised for lighter-touch process handling: apps stayed in memory, multitasking felt fluid. ColorOS takes a more assertive approach to battery efficiency, sometimes terminating background apps mid-task.

The OnePlus community’s own assessment, published about 16 months ago, put it this way: OxygenOS remains “slightly smoother” day-to-day, while ColorOS delivers better RAM optimization and battery gains through more aggressive management.

That’s a tradeoff, not an upgrade.

Smaller identity markers disappear too. The Calculator’s “Never Settle” Easter egg triggered by entering “1 + =” won’t carry over, Android Authority noted. No individual detail like this is decisive. Collectively, they represent the texture of a brand that pays attention to its users.

The alert slider, arguably OnePlus’s most beloved physical differentiator, was already removed from multiple flagships as part of the OPPO integration, with the reclaimed space used for faster charging and a larger battery, per Android Authority’s earlier analysis.

Mobility must-reads

What ColorOS actually adds, and whether it compensates

A fair argument requires this section. ColorOS does bring real additions.

The Trinity Engine, shared across both platforms, delivers 37% overall stability improvements, along with ROM compression that recovers storage space without slowing performance. O+ Connect enables native file sharing between OnePlus and Apple devices via touch, as well as wireless screen mirroring to Macs and Windows PCs. The OHealth app now syncs with Apple Watch, including call handling. For users running mixed-device households, these are genuinely useful.

Here’s the structural problem with treating these as gains: most of them were already available before the rebrand. Because OxygenOS and ColorOS have shared a backend since early 2026, users running OxygenOS 16 already had access to Trinity Engine, O+ Connect, Zen Space, and the Mind Space AI screenshot analysis tools, as both Android Authority and Adam Lobo’s comparison confirm. The ColorOS rebrand doesn’t unlock a new platform. It removes the last visible layer of distinction while the underlying capability stays largely the same.

That reframing is the core of the argument.

The net change for an OxygenOS user is: lose the visual identity, lose the Shelf gesture behavior, keep everything you already had, and potentially inherit OPPO’s app store, although OnePlus has not confirmed the bundled apps in its ColorOS build. Open Canvas multitasking across up to five simultaneous apps on larger screens — a genuine capability that OxygenOS users valued — will carry over to the ColorOS build, just under a different name. That continuity is real. It doesn’t compensate for what changes.

Regarding update speed, Pete Lau’s 2021 merger rationale emphasized faster, more stable updates. The OnePlus community noted about sixteen months ago that updates may now take longer because OnePlus builds require testing across the broader ColorOS pipeline before release. Software distinctiveness has visibly narrowed. Those are the measurable outcomes against a five-year-old promise.

The bloatware problem, and what it means for ownership

Beyond visual and gestural changes, the ColorOS transition carries a practical consequence that users who chose OnePlus to escape bloatware will feel immediately.

OPPO’s current lineup, including the premium Find X9 series, ships with pre-installed third-party apps such as Amazon, Booking.com, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Netflix, as well as OPPO’s own “App Market” and “Game Center,” Android Authority reported this week. OnePlus flagships have been spared this so far. Android Authority expects that to change with the transition. More consequentially, OPPO’s proprietary app store cannot be fully uninstalled, no matter how much effort is put in.

For context on why this stings specifically: a significant portion of OnePlus’s Western user base came to the brand as a deliberate escape from exactly this model. Choosing OnePlus over Samsung or Xiaomi was, for many buyers, a choice to avoid persistent proprietary app stores and carrier-style pre-installs. The ColorOS rebrand imports the infrastructure that made those alternatives unappealing.

For US and European owners, the software change intersects with a separate ownership risk that deserves its own attention. In Europe, Android Authority reports that OnePlus is offloading much of its business to OPPO and directing users to buy OPPO instead, with repairs expected to slowly transition to OPPO as well.

There are already reports of OnePlus struggling to handle repair requests and issuing warranty vouchers rather than processing hardware claims. In the US, since OPPO has no American market presence, Android Authority notes the long-term logistics of that repair pathway remain unclear, although OnePlus says eligible devices will retain repair and after-sales service.

OnePlus already has limited US inventory, suggesting it had been preparing for this move rather than managing a supply issue. These are warning signs, not a confirmed collapse, but they warrant treating as an active ownership risk, not background noise.

The Android Authority analysis from three and a half years ago warned that losing the enthusiast crowd without gaining mainstream adoption in return would leave OnePlus as “a dead brand walking.”

The ColorOS rebrand doesn’t resolve that tension. It deepens it.

What OnePlus owners should do now

The transition isn’t here yet. OnePlus has not confirmed which models are affected first, whether all global variants convert simultaneously, or whether the update can be deferred on existing devices, Android Authority confirmed this week. That window is worth using deliberately.

For enthusiast users who bought OnePlus specifically for clean software, the losses are real and largely uncompensated by gains already on your device. Check whether OTA updates can be delayed on your specific model. If custom ROM support matters to you, verify whether your device’s bootloader remains unlockable under the ColorOS transition. And watch for model-specific rollout notices. OnePlus hasn’t confirmed which devices convert first.

For mainstream users who want capable hardware with solid software support, the transition is unlikely to significantly affect your daily experience. Update commitments for support periods vary by model; the OnePlus 12R is promised at least three Android-version upgrades and four years of security updates, per the OnePlus community, and the AI features and ecosystem integrations are genuine additions. Whether those commitments will carry over through the ColorOS transition without delay has not yet been confirmed.

For US and European owners specifically, the software change is the most visible issue, but the repair and support transition is the more urgent one. Confirm your device’s current repair pathway in your region, verify whether your warranty terms carry over if service migrates to OPPO, and don’t wait until you have a hardware problem to find out the answer.

The broader picture is this: the ColorOS rebrand isn’t the end of OnePlus as a hardware brand. It’s the end of OnePlus as a distinct enthusiast software brand in Western markets, the formal close of a project that began in 2021 and has been completing itself ever since.

For the users who chose OxygenOS because it was different, that’s not a footnote. It’s the whole story.

Editor’s note: This article originally appeared on our sister publication, GadgetHacks.

WhatsApp Web users no longer need the desktop app to make a call.

Meta is rolling out end-to-end encrypted voice and video calling directly in the browser, alongside a Calls tab and several broader calling improvements. The change particularly benefits people using Linux, shared computers, low-storage devices, or work systems that restrict software installations.

Browser calling closes one of the largest remaining gaps between WhatsApp Web and the platform’s mobile and desktop apps, although users will need to grant the site access to their microphone and camera.

Web calling comes to WhatsApp web

On July 28, WhatsApp announced Web Calling, bringing a long-expected feature to its browser-based platform.

The addition allows users to initiate and receive WhatsApp calls in their browser, without switching to the desktop app or grabbing their phones. That means WhatsApp would now be able to request access to the microphone and camera, just like Zoom and Google Meet do.

WhatsApp says the feature benefits students using shared computers, employees whose work devices restrict software installations, and users who simply prefer working in a browser.

The feature may be particularly useful for Linux users, who do not have an official WhatsApp desktop application. Browser calling also removes another barrier for people using low-storage devices, increasing the platform’s accessibility.

What else is changing for WhatsApp calls

Browser calling is the headline addition, but WhatsApp also announced five accompanying improvements to its calling experience.

A new Calls tab gives users a dedicated place to view and delete recent call history, manage favorite contacts, and quickly start voice or video calls from the browser.

The company has also introduced call transfer, allowing users to move an active call between linked devices without disconnecting, making it easier to switch from a computer to a phone or vice versa.

Group calls are also receiving waiting rooms, enabling hosts to review and approve participants before they join a call through a shared link. WhatsApp says its Quick HD feature allows calls to shift to higher-resolution video faster when network conditions support it. Improved noise suppression is intended to reduce background sound and make voices clearer.

What’s hot at TechRepublic

Security considerations for browser-based calling

WhatsApp confirms that its WhatsApp Web calls enjoy the same level of security and privacy as the mobile and desktop versions.

However, the browser environment introduces a different security picture. WhatsApp Web runs inside a browser, where security also depends on the browser and installed extensions. Over the years, cybercriminals have abused fake WhatsApp Web pages, malicious browser extensions, phishing campaigns, and session-hijacking techniques to gain unauthorized access to WhatsApp accounts.

The browser-based calling feature does not introduce a security flaw. Even so, it expands the range of activities users can perform through the browser, making it more important to secure the surrounding environment. A compromised browser or hijacked WhatsApp Web session could expose sensitive communications or account access, even if the encrypted contents of calls remain protected in transit.

For users, the update reinforces familiar security practices: use trusted, updated browsers, avoid unnecessary extensions, verify the official WhatsApp Web address before signing in, and enable two-step verification to reduce the risk of account compromise.

Availability

The feature is the most recent news from WhatsApp following its productivity upgrades and the introduction of usernames, signaling that the platform is tackling some of users’ long-standing challenges. It also lands just after the company’s leadership changed in June.

WhatsApp says web calling and accompanying features have already begun rolling out and will reach everyone over time.

Also read: Google rolled out new Android features that give WhatsApp users more control over backups and password transfers.