The OnePlus Nord CE gets its final upgrade with Oxygen OS 13

Ah, the OnePlus Nord CE. The original from 2021! A smartphone that truly impressed us with its performance, form factor and price. When it was initially released globally, it came with Android 11 out of the box, under Oxygen OS 11. Back then it had two years of software support ahead of it, but time really flies.

OnePlus has begun officially rolling out Android 13 for its Nord CE in the form of its staple Oxygen OS 13. The announcement came through its official community forums and it marks the final software upgrade meant to reach the Nord CE.

But hey, firmware version EB2103_11_F brings tons of tweaks and improvements, so that the smartphone can be at peak performance for the duration of its final year of security updates. And like any other great update, things begin with a fresh coat of paint!



Oxygen OS’ brand new aquamorphic design is included, and it extends not only to static visual elements but also to animations and active shadows. For example, the clock’s shadows simulate the orientation of the sun and moon. Such a cool final touch!

New features are also introduced, such as enlarged folders that can be placed on the home screen, or a Sidebar Toolbox that can help you open floating windows inside already running apps.

Naturally, no update is complete without security and privacy improvements. Most notably, users will be able to enjoy features such as advanced encryption for the items they’ve placed in their Private Safe. Oh, and Oxygen OS 13 is capable of offering you the option to automatically pixelate user data and avatars from screenshots. Neat!

For a full list of changes, you should definitely check the community forums, especially if you have some hesitation towards the upgrade. But no worries — OnePlus will let you roll back to the last version if that is indeed the case… at the cost of your user data. So make sure to remember that when you get the update alert!