Last week Huawei Chairman Liang Hua said that the company would develop its own operating system in the event that they weren’t allowed to use Android, and we questioned if they could develop one in such a short amount of time.
The answer to that question, apparently, is “yes” — according to Chinese newspaper The Global Times, the Chinese tech giant is planning to release a smartphone equipped with their proprietary HongMeng OS by the end of this year.
The yet-to-be-named smartphone is said to be targeted at the “low to medium-end market”, and will cost around 2,000 yuan (S$398). It’s not as cheap as…say, the Y6 Pro, but comes at a low enough price point where software developers and users will be willing to test the waters.
We’ve said this before, but it’s worth pointing out again — we’re a little confused on account of Liang saying last month that HongMeng OS was not a replacement for Android, and was primarily developed for Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Why the sudden pivot, and will the rush result in a lower quality OS?
You can’t blame Huawei for speeding up their plans, though — the whole trade ban fiasco demonstrated how dangerous it can be to rely on external parties, and despite the ban being lifted it’s still unclear whether the upcoming Mate 30 will be able to ship with Android.
It’s not easy to build an OS from the ground up, but having a safety net is probably the smart thing to do. At the very least we’re definitely interested in trying it out for ourselves, so…mission accomplished?
Header Image Credit: Reuters
