A couple of days ago a new rumor emerged surrounding Huawei. While rumors typically involve upcoming devices or the possibility of a takeover, merger or similar, this particular rumor focused on the notion that Huawei is working on developing their own operating system. Generally speaking and largely due to the dominance of Android and iOS, rumors of a new operating system are very few and far between. Either way that was the rumor that has developed this week.
In terms of the actual details, there is not much. The rumors all point to the fact that Huawei is simply working on their own operating system. There are no details on what that OS would be like, whether it would be Android-based, what it would offer or even when it would likely arrive, with the indications suggesting it was still largely in an infant stage of development. Although, it was being said that the logic behind trying to bring a new OS to what is a largely an already dominated OS market, is that Huawei was looking to lessen their dependency on Google’s Android in the future.
Since the initial rumors, Huawei’s CEO, Richard Yu, has been noted taking to Weibo to clarify the situation. Although, to many this is unlikely to be seen as much of a clarification, as Yu did not either confirm nor deny the rumors that Huawei is secretly working on their own operating system. However, what Yu did say is that as long as Google’s Android OS remains an open platform “Huawei smartphone will always use the operating system and ecosystem.” So on the face of it, the sentiment being made is that Huawei is not particularly looking to turn away from Android in any meaningful manner and certainly not in the near future. That said, without the absence of a straight denial, it is likely that the idea of Huawei developing their own OS will persist. Whether this is as part of a long-term goal to replace Android on their devices or a means to go a similar route as Samsung and have localized and regional devices running on their own OS and international releases continuing to run on Android, remains to be seen.