At its 2026 developer conference held in Zhuhai on September 17th, OPPO unveiled ColorOS 17, marking a significant update that also introduced advancements in on-device large models, long-term memory capabilities, and the agent ecosystem.

This release stands as the most critical software innovation from the event. OPPO has confirmed that ColorOS now boasts over 770 million global active users, with plans for an initial synchronized upgrade across its three major brands: OPPO, OnePlus, and realme.

While the new system continues to prioritize smoothness as its foundation—featuring a next-generation Aurora Engine with a fusion rendering architecture and a Tide Engine that employs personalized scheduling to adjust app priority based on user habits—the spotlight at this year's conference was squarely on artificial intelligence.

Centered around the themes of "New Computing, New Perception, and New Ecosystem," OPPO detailed three core AI technology pillars. The on-device large model now natively supports a 128K context window, achieving a 48% reduction in memory usage and a 55% improvement in energy efficiency compared to its predecessor. Meanwhile, the Persona X memory engine is designed to facilitate long-term understanding and retention of user information, and the Agent Matrix framework aims to integrate third-party services, shifting AI's role from merely understanding users to actively executing tasks.

These capabilities are already woven into ColorOS 17. For instance, the Xiaobu assistant can proactively identify schedules, friend invitations, movies, and travel plans, converting them into actionable to-do items. In addition, Xiaobu Suggestions has forged partnerships with over 40 third-party services, covering more than 700 niche scenarios. The update also includes an AI photo editor and a one-stop AI note-taking feature.

According to Tang Kai, President of OPPO's Software Engineering Division, genuinely useful AI must enter users' real-life contexts and deliver proactive services at opportune moments.

Beyond the smartphone system, the conference showcased other AI-driven hardware, including a wearable AI device called "Heart Ball" that clips onto clothing, as well as a new smartwatch featuring personalized fat-burning functions.

Compared to traditional smartphone AI that relies on users actively opening apps and issuing commands, the Heart Ball represents an alternative approach: extending AI's perception capabilities beyond the phone to enable more natural recording of information from the user's surroundings. However, this product currently remains heavily dependent on OPPO's own ecosystem. According to discussions at the event, the Heart Ball is primarily compatible with OPPO phones for now, and whether it will support other brands and models in the future has yet to be determined.

Smartwatches are another key focus for OPPO's wearable strategy. The new Watch S2 will be the first to feature the FatMax ultra-fat-burning mode. This feature calculates a personalized optimal fat-burning zone based on factors like height, weight, gender, resting heart rate, and exercise performance, continuously updating its model based on real-world workout data. During exercise, the watch provides real-time feedback, prompting users to speed up, slow down, or maintain their pace, and offers post-workout insights such as grams of fat burned and average fat-burning rate.

OPPO's vision for health devices extends beyond simple data logging. "Agents have inspired us greatly, both in terms of understanding user data and in future interventions," said Li Yelei, OPPO's Health Business Data Technology Director. He noted that the team is persistently building out its data and AI capabilities, with plans to eventually deliver a suite of closed-loop action management solutions to users based on intelligent agents and their orchestration.

From ColorOS 17 to the Heart Ball and the Watch S2, a clear trend emerging from this developer conference is the proliferation of AI endpoints. The flow of user information is beginning to shift from smartphones toward watches and other wearable hardware. As we look to the next generation of smart devices, there is growing anticipation for how mobile hardware can lower usage barriers, integrate more seamlessly and naturally into daily life, and deliver more proactive and personalized services at the right moments.