Downgrade OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G From Android 12 to Android 11

OnePlus recently rolled out the Android 12 update for the OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G devices globally, bringing a new revamped UI, new notification style, privacy dashboard, and many more. If you have installed Android 12 and want to downgrade to Android 11, this guide is for you.

As we all know, the Android 12 may contain bugs that can make your device unstable to use as a daily driver. In this tutorial, we will guide you on how to roll back from Android 12 to Android 11 on the OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G. This guide is easy to follow; all you need is a computer with a working USB cable to connect your device to the computer.

OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G Device Overview:

The Oneplus Nord CE 2 features a 6.43-inch AMOLED panel with a 90Hz refresh rate. It is an FHD+ panel with a resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels and an aspect ratio of 20:9. The screen is protected by corning Gorilla Glass 5. Under the hood, we have MediaTek Dimensity 900 5G built on a 6nm manufacturing process. It is an octa-core processor with two Cortex-A78 cores clocked at 2.4 GHz and six Cortex-A55 cores clocked at 2.0 GHz. For handling the graphics-intensive tasks, we have the Mali-G68 MC4.

In terms of optics, we get a triple camera setup at the rear and a single camera at the front. The triple camera setup consists of a 64 MP primary sensor paired with an f/1.8 lens, an 8 MP ultrawide sensor paired with an f/2.2 lens, and a 2 MP macro sensor paired with an f/2.4 lens. At the front, we have a 16 MP sensor paired with an f/2.4 lens. The rear setup can capture 4K videos at 30 fps, while the front camera is limited to 1080p video recording.

The smartphone runs on Android 11 out of the box with OxygenOS 11 skin on top. The phone comes in two storage options: 128GB + 6GB RAM and 128GB + 8GB RAM. There is also a dedicated MicroSD slot for storage expansion. For communications, we have Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6, Bluetooth 5.2, GPS, NFC, and USB Type-C 2.0. And for sensors, we get an under-display optical fingerprint sensor, accelerometer, gyro, proximity, and compass. Powering it all is a 4500 mAh battery that can be topped up quickly using the 65W fast charging adapter included in the box. The smartphone is available in two color options: Gray Mirror and Bahama Blue.

Downgrade OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G from Android 12 to Android 11

First, download the appropriate firmware package for your device from the link below. Once that is done, proceed with the instructions steps that follow.

Pre-Requirements:

Supported device: OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G
Make sure to charge your device more than 50%
You need a PC or Laptop with a USB cable.
Take a complete backup using any method given below
- Full Data Backup without Root
- Nandroid Backup via TWRP
Download Drivers: Qualcomm USB Drivers and OnePlus USB Drivers

Download Rollback Package

Device: OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G
Download: Link

Now that you have downloaded the rollback package from the above section, create a complete device backup before proceeding with the below-mentioned steps. This is because the installation steps require a wipe of the data. Once you have done so, here are is everything you need to be aware of regarding the downgrade of the OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G from Android 12 to Android 11.

Downgrade Instructions

First of all, Turn off your device.
Now reboot your phone into bootloader mode by pressing and simultaneously holding the VOLUME UP and POWER buttons.
Now, connect your device to your PC using the USB cable.
Open the extracted firmware folder to flash it using fastboot mode.
Enter the below code to boot your device into fastbootd mode.

fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash cpucp cpucp.img
fastboot flash dtbo dtbo.img
fastboot flash modem modem.img
fastboot flash oplusstanvbk oplusstanvbk.img
fastboot flash oplus_sec oplus_sec.img
fastboot flash qweslicstore qweslicstore.img
fastboot flash shrm shrm.img
fastboot flash splash splash.img
fastboot flash vbmeta vbmeta.img
fastboot flash vbmeta_vendor vbmeta_vendor.img
fastboot flash vbmeta_system vbmeta_system.img
fastboot flash vendor_boot vendor_boot.img
fastboot flash vm-bootsys vm-bootsys.img

4. Now reboot into userspace fastboot, aka fastbootd. If you don’t do this, the remaining files cannot be flashed:

fastboot flash abl abl.img
fastboot flash aop aop.img
fastboot flash bluetooth bluetooth.img
fastboot flash devcfg devcfg.img
fastboot flash dsp dsp.img
fastboot flash featenabler featenabler.img
fastboot flash hyp hyp.img
fastboot flash imagefv imagefv.img
fastboot flash keymaster keymaster.img
fastboot flash multiimgoem multiimgoem.img
fastboot flash qupfw qupfw.img
fastboot flash tz tz.img
fastboot flash uefisecapp uefisecapp.img
fastboot flash xbl xbl.img
fastboot flash xbl_config xbl_config.img
fastboot flash product product.img
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash system_ext system_ext.img
fastboot flash vendor vendor.img
fastboot flash odm odm.img

6. Now reboot your device into the system using the below fastboot command:
7. If everything worked your phone should now boot into OxygenOS.
The files will be flashed to your currently active boot slot. If any of them fail to flash, switch to the other slot and start over from the beginning. I wasn’t able to flash ODM, product, system, system_ext, and vendor to slot a, and had to use slot b instead. To check the current slot:

fastboot getvar current-slot

To switch slots:

fastboot --set-active=a

fastboot --set-active=b

So this was all from this guide on downgrading or rolling back from Android 12 to Android 10 stable build on your OnePlus Nord CE 2 5G devices. The first boot after the rollback could up some time, this is completely normal. Since a device reset has been taken place as well, you might have to set it up from scratch. Rounding up, here are some iPhone Tips and Tricks, PC tips and tricks, and Android Tips and Tricks that deserve your attention too.