Conflicting reports are emerging on the rollout of Huawei’s Android alternative. While Huawei’s mobile chief Richard Yu is saying that the Huawei OS is likely to be released as early as this fall, and no later than spring next year, a report citing people familiar with Huawei OS is claiming that the operating system is far from ready. Huawei has been trying to develop an alternative to Android for quite some time, but the effort has become more important than ever in light of the US restrictions on the company.
Earlier this week, Google reportedly suspended business with Huawei, leaving the company without access to Google Play and the popular Google apps, after US put Huawei on a trade blacklist that bars it from buying services and components from American companies. The decision was later deferred after US provided a 90-day reprieve to the company. However, unless US-China trade war resolves itself right now, Huawei is in a dire need an alternative, but the situation doesn’t look great for the company.
In an interaction with Chinese media, Huawei’s Richard Yu said that Huawei’s self-developed OS is compatible with Android as well as Web applications and will support phones, tablets, computers, TVs, cars, and wearables. He also added that if an Android app is recompiled for the Huawei OS, its performance will increase by over 60 percent on the company’s devices.
“The Huawei OS is likely to hit the market as soon as this fall, and no later than spring next year,” Yu reportedly said.
No specifics of the Huawei operating system are known at this point; however, The Information is reporting that it is far from ready. The publication notes Huawei’s self-developed OS effort is internally known as Project Z and it has been in the works for several years now. But now, as Huawei faces the prospect of losing access to Play Store and Google application, it is looking to accelerate the development.
The Information also notes, citing a person familiar with Project Z, that while it may be easier for Huawei to roll out its own operating system in China, building an app ecosystem around its own OS internationally would be nearly impossible.
Huawei’s access to Android isn’t the only thing the company may lose over the coming weeks, it is also likely to get blacklisted from using Intel chips and Windows 10, two of the main components of the company’s laptop business. Microsoft is yet to officially say if it plans to limit Huawei’s access to Windows 10.