Just about every Android manufacturer uses some sort of custom skin on top of Android for their own devices. HTC has Sense, Xiaomi has MIUI, and Huawei, one of the top OEMs in the world, has their own EmotionUI skin. Like Samsung’s TouchWiz, EmotionUI has always been very different from stock Android and thus extremely divisive among fans. Some fault it as the Achilles heel of some of Huawei’s best phones, while others absolutely adore the ROM and couldn’t imagine a Huawei device without it. Both camps are in for a bit of a shock and a shift in how they think of the skin when version 5.0 drops at some point in the third quarter of 2016; allegedly, the newest version of EmotionUI will be much simpler and closer to stock Android, though all of the normal options will supposedly still be there in some form.
Our source, GSMInfo, sat down with Li Changzhu, Huawei’s head of mobile, to get some details on the new interface. Users will still have tons of options available to customize their device’s overall interface, but things will be streamlined and made a bit more accessible and user friendly. The current version of EmotionUI is seen by some as needlessly convoluted and counter-intuitive in its operations, a fact that Changzhu assures GSMInfo that he is aware of and is part of the reason that the newest iteration of the popular OS tweak will be on the simpler side. According to Changzhu, appealing to Western users is a big part of the change. Beyond all of that, however, he refused to reveal any further details.
The new skin is set to debut at some point before September of 2016, presumably along a new flagship Huawei device, though an exact date was not given. Being a total revamp of the current iteration of EmotionUI, it will be no surprise to see leaks begin to make their way out leading up to an official reveal for the new OS, a new device running it or both. This could very well happen at 2016’s IFA conference in Berlin, which is set to begin on September 4th this year.