So Huawei announced that it wants to launch its own operating system and ditch the world most popular operating system Android. The story according to the South China Morning Post made it known that Huawei, one of the largest China’s mobile phone manufacturer has been developing their own operating system long since 2012.
While Huawei is currently banned from selling it’s Android powered devices to the US market because of sales violations and international laws, the company still excelled to becoming the second top manufacturer in Q2 2018.
While the OS isn’t yet released to the general public according to SCMP, there is speculation that the Huawei’s Operating System might not be as good as Android OS while there aren’t so much third party applications made for it yet.
While this isn’t official, the company’s executive representative had dismissed the claim that it will be ditching Android altogether in favor of it’s own operating system. Huawei “has no plans to release its own OS in the foreseeable future”, the company told the news site in a statement. “We focus on products powered by Android OS and adopt an open attitude towards mobile OS.”
While the company’s Subsidiary company (Honor) CEO Mr. Zhao Ming had come public during the Global Mobile Internet Conference in China some weeks back, he made it known that Huawei is capable of creating it’s own OS “There is no doubt that Huawei is capable of doing it, but for now I don’t think it is necessary since we work very closely with Google and will continue to use its Android system”.
When will Huawei OS be released?
The fact Android dominates the mobile market is a sure thing. And Google being the company behind the system might put Huawei in a negative position if it ever ditch Android too soon. The fact that Microsoft one of the world most powerful corporations couldn’t beat Android in the mobile market showed how domineering Android is in the mobile market at large.
However, as the “worst case scenario” quote suggests, the Chinese manufacturer is likely preparing for an eventuality that’s both largely out of its control and more likely than you might think.
While there was a news about ZTE being under investigation and could possibly lose it’s Android license due to a similar offence Huawei “committed” after US suppliers were banned from working wih the Chinese Telecoms manufacturer. The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre also advised telecoms businesses against working with the Shenzhen-based company, because it would have a “long term negative effect on the security of the UK”.
It’s logical to conclude that Huawei might be planning on ditching Android soon and the fact that Huawei is making big sales from its device sales despite not being able to sell in the US market might be another significant scenario to the entire event.
The difference between ZTE and Huawei is that the former pleaded guilty to illegally shipping US components to Iran, while Huawei hasn’t admitted to any wrongdoing. Meanwhile, the US authorities have been probing the manufacturer for it’s exportation violation as reported by the NY Times.
Being one of the largest mobile manufacturer in the world behind just Apple and Samsung, one can say that Huawei is capable enough to create it’s own brand new Operating System. And considering the fact that Chinese users of Huawei smartphones don’t have access to the Google Play store might be another significant hurdle to the success of their new mobile OS. But the successful creation of such might have a significant impact on the success of the company either positively or negatively. However, until US authorities impose a similar ban to ZTE’s, all I can say is watch this space.