OxygenOS 12 based on Android 12 for the OnePlus 9 series came out a couple of days ago, but it's been plagued with issues. Users have reported a litany of problems with the update, and that's seemingly in thanks to the switch to ColorOS under-the-hood. Think of it as flashing an entirely different custom ROM from the one you were using previously -- it's likely to cause issues without close attention paid to making sure the transition is seamless. I installed the OxygenOS 12 release on my device and assumed that it was an open beta because of how poorly it ran on my phone. It was only later that day that we realized it was the stable OxygenOS 12 update.

However, just like with custom ROMs, there was a solution -- a factory reset. To be clear, nobody should ever have to factory reset their phones after a software update, and I would wager that most phone owners have never had to do that before. Even still, the list of problems that I had on OxygenOS 12 before factory resetting was far-reaching and made the phone unusable. My phone would only display at 120Hz when navigating my notifications, the battery would drain with the screen off in a matter of hours, the recents menu didn't properly work, broken Google feed... the list goes on.

OnePlus Android 12 Tracker: Here are all the official OxygenOS 12 builds to download and install

Since factory resetting my phone, though, it's been perfect. It's smooth, it's fast, and there are (nearly) no problems anymore. Even the DPI scaling has been fixed -- all of my apps look consistent. What I don't understand is how OxygenOS 12 shipped in the state that it did. As a reviewer, I was lucky that I was able to quickly and easily factory reset my phone without it affecting my day too much as I could use another phone, but I know that not everyone has that luxury.

Should this be happening in a flagship smartphone? Absolutely not. This experience is not okay, and there was clearly not enough testing conducted. The thing is that I know OxygenOS 12 based on ColorOS is capable of being good, as the OnePlus Nord 2 has demonstrated. I'm surprised that this update was released, but if you have the time, give a factory reset a try. It might fix these problems for you like it did for me.