Alongside the flagship OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro smartphones, OnePlus also unveiled a more affordable variant of the lineup called the OnePlus 9R. The India-only device comes with some spec changes to meet a lower price point, while still maintaining important bits to qualify for the 9-series badge. If you're planning to buy the phone solely for aftermarket development, then you will be happy to know that the company has already released the kernel source code for the Linux kernel binaries that ship with the device’s OxygenOS software.
The OnePlus 9R packs Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 870 chip, which is a minor upgrade over last year’s flagship SoC — the Snapdragon 865. Other than the faster prime core, the only fundamental difference between the two SoCs is the supported Bluetooth version. That’s why OnePlus has released the kernel source code for the OnePlus 9R in the same branch as the OnePlus 8T’s release, which itself resides within the OnePlus 8/8 Pro's Android 11 kernel source tree.
Xiaomi has also refreshed its Github repository by publishing the kernel sources for several newly released devices powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 SoC. Among them, the Redmi K40 debuted last month in China with MIUI 12 based on Android 11 on board. The exact same phone was launched globally just a few days ago under the POCO F3 moniker. The Mi 10S is another Snapdragon 870-powered device recently launched in China that has yet to see a global release.
XDA Hands-on: The POCO F3 has flagship-level haptics and screen for a whole lot less
Lastly, we have a major subset of the Mi 10 family, for which the Chinese OEM has published a new set of kernel sources targeting Android 11. Notably, all these devices are powered by the Snapdragon 865 SoC. There is absolutely no need to deal with Xiaomi's overly-cryptic naming convention and confusing rebrands, as you can just refer to the following table to get a clear look at the releases.
|
Sr. No. |
Device, Device Codename, and XDA Forum Link |
Kernel Source and corresponding Android version |
Previous Release |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1. |
|
– |
|
|
2. |
Android 10 [Mi 10, Mi 10 Ultra, Mi 10T] |
A kernel source release with a proper commit history is immensely helpful for the aftermarket development scene. The modding community can fiddle with the code and improve the overall performance of the device by patching the stock kernel. Moreover, such releases also help developers to build TWRP and port popular custom ROMs (e.g. LineageOS) for the device which, in turn, benefit users who aren’t satisfied with the stock ROM.