Huawei is soldiering on amid its continuing tensions with the United States and is set to announce its Hongmeng OS on Friday at its developer conference in Dongguan, China, according to the Global Times. The manufacturer will showcase its new operating system on an Honor brand Smart TV, which will be available in China.
This move could be just the beginning of a new trajectory for Huawei. While the manufacturer has stated its plans for Hongmeng OS are more in the smart home and IoT space, there are indications that the software could transition to the company’s smartphones if necessary.
Huawei’s preparation for the future
Reports also indicate that Huawei has plans to announce a low-end smartphone running Hongmeng OS during the fourth quarter of 2019. This supposed launch could coincide with the unveiling of its Huawei Mate 30 flagship, which expected to run Android. Still, the manufacturer may justly feel it necessary to have long term plans in place.
There is little known about the Hongmeng OS phone other than it may cost 2,000 yuan or about $288. The smartphone could be a developer-focused device, similar to Google’s Nexus line or the Pixel line in its early days. While there is no direct connection, Huawei has notably filed trademarks for smartphones called the P300, P400, and P500 in the U.K. Europe is one of Huawei’s largest markets outside of China and could easily be one of the markets the manufacturer tries to recapture in its restructuring. Hongmeng OS may also be called Oak OS outside of China.
Huawei remains in a precarious situation with U.S. security bans still in place. Though President Trump and China’s President, Xi Jinping have met and enacted an agreement that allows Huawei to move more freely in terms of hardware and certain licensing, it remains to be seen how U.S. distrust of the company will fare over time.
Hongmeng OS more developed than is let on?
Overall, Hongmeng OS may not ready for flagship treatment, as it is common knowledge that the market as a whole does not take kindly to operating systems outside of Android and iOS. However, Huawei has been developing the system since 2012, and its creation could coincide with Google’s long term software plans.
Details indicate that Hongmeng OS is based on the “Zircon” microkernel that is the building block of Google’s Fuchsia OS rather than the Linux kernel that is the basis of Android. Fuchsia OS development hints that Google may have a long term goal of creating one system for all of its hardware.
With Huawei having already spun out its own system the manufacturer would likely not be relegated Android open-source code. However, with Huawei is currently testing Hongmeng OS compatibility with Android applications, the manufacturer may still be ingrained in Google’s ecosystem for some time, due to the tech giant’s international dominance with G-suite services.
In 2018, Huawei tested Fuchsia OS on the Honor Play smartphone, which runs the brand’s Kirin 970 flagship tier processor. This also hints that the manufacturer could actually be prepared to switch its premium devices to an entirely new system, if absolutely necessary.
Huawei Mate 30 still slated for Android
Huawei has been allowed to move forward with Android updates on its smartphones that are currently on the market, but longterm use of Android remains uncertain. Leaks and rumors surrounding the Huawei Mate 30 indicate the device has been spotted in a public leak, in a casing that hides its true form. There has also been a render leak that shows design details in accordance with schematics for case accessories. The Mate 30 Pro may also feature two 40-megapixel lenses among its main camera set up.
Most reports explicitly refrain from mentioning anything about Android. Still, prior reports have detailed that a Huawei vice president insists the manufacturer intends to use Android as its primary operating system in the foreseeable future.
It is likely the Mate 30 was already in the Android pipeline, ahead of its addition to the U.S. Entity List in May. The flagship could potentially release with Android Q, which is expected to be officially released in the coming weeks. Google’s Pixel 4 may also release in October running Android Q. This could give Huawei time to prepare the latest operating system for release on its own device.
