What you need to know about the NEW OS by Huawei

huawei new OS

Huawei has been in the news lately and it hasn’t been a good few months for them. The US banned Huawei from operating in the United States. The problem began when Huawei’s closeness with the Chinese government placed doubts in the minds of the US authorities.

This issue was brewing for some time and it started with the ban of Huawei phones by the Pentagon in US military bases in 2018.

In May 2019, President Trump passed a national security order to ban Huawei’s smartphones in the United States. 

There was a huge uproar from Huawei users when Google also banned future OS updates of Android for Huawei devices. We wrote a piece about how the Huawei ban affected Singapore Huawei users. 

Although this news did not affect current Huawei phone users as Google promised them updates to the current OS, it definitely was bad news for Huawei. 

It was inevitable that Huawei would work on their own OS and there is considerable proof of the same. 

 

The New Huawei OS 

There were many names doing the rounds for the new Huawei OS. The most popular one for a long time was the ‘Hongmeng OS’ as Huawei has been working on this product since 2012. There were other names such as ‘Oak OS’ and ‘ARK OS’. 

A few news agencies reported that the OS for the Chinese market would be called ‘Hongmeng OS’ and for the rest of the world it would be called the ‘Oak OS’

 

When will the Huawei OS launch? 

The Huawei OS after considerable testing is expected to launch around September. This is around the same period when the US’ respite on Huawei will come to an end. This ‘respite’ period is a 90 day period that lets suppliers, manufacturers and Huawei clean up their act by finding other companies to do business with and have a smooth transition. 

 

The Huawei OS – Is it a security threat? 

The Huawei OS is undergoing various tests and measures and according to Google, the OS worked on by Huawei is a major security threat to Huawei users worldwide because the OS created by Huawei is a rough version of Android which has not been tested for good periods of time and lacks basic features such as Play services which are built to protect the users. 

Google is ultimately claiming that the law of unintended consequences is likely to hit if they ban Huawei devices. If Huawei comes up with their own OS, the security is likely to be poorer and makes it even more vulnerable to hacking which is what the ban was supposed to stop.

 

Google’s worry with the new Huawei OS 

 

Many reports have claimed that Google’s sudden backtracking on the Huawei issue has one major theme. Google losing its monopoly as the sole major OS company. Google claims Huawei’s new OS will compete with them and create an alternate stream that powers millions of new devices. 

It’s also possible that the Huawei ban will be closely watched by other Chinese tech giants such as Oppo, Vivo and One Plus, who might stop their reliance on Android OS and make their own ‘Chinese’ OS that they can control. 

 

Latest Updates on Huawei

 

  • It is still early days when it comes to the ban and according to a few sources, Huawei has been super busy launching their 5G services. Russia has let Huawei build its 5G infrastructure as China has issued numerous licenses to Huawei to build more 5G capable technology in the country. 

 

  • Facebook has stopped Huawei from bundling Facebook apps such as Messenger and Instagram and Whatsapp on future Huawei phones. This is a big blow to Huawei, but users can still download these apps from the Play store. 

 

  • Huawei’s chairman, Liang Hua has suggested that Huawei is open to signing a “No-Spy” deal with the US that ensures that Huawei will not be used to spy on US citizens or the military or any establishment. 

 

  • Huawei’s 5G juggernaut does not look like it’s going to stop. Although a few countries like Australia and New Zealand have banned Huawei’s 5G equipment. 30 other countries have accepted Huawei’s 5G equipment and they have given them over 30 contracts. 

 

  • Huawei is also betting big on its App Store. They have been inviting developers to build apps for the Huawei App Store and hope to compete with Google directly. 

 

  • Although Huawei has denied it, a few reports suggest that Huawei has scaled down the manufacturing of its devices according to the manufacturer Foxconn

 

  • Huawei has been banned by the Wifi alliance. The Wifi Alliance is an international body that regulates the use and the shaping of the technology. This means, Huawei cannot give its inputs on the development of the technology but can use the technology for its devices.

 

  • A major blow for Huawei is the ban by ARM. ARM is a chip-designing company that is headquartered in the UK. A lot of the core technology used by Huawei is made by ARM. This will make the development of future phones really expensive for Huawei as they have to rely on other chipmakers or worse, create their own chips for their devices which can be considerably expensive. 

 

In summary, the impact of the Huawei ban by the US will reach far and wide. Can Huawei create a worthy competitor to Android? Only time can tell.

Check out some of the latest Huawei Models by RedWhiteMobile.

Huawei P30 Pro 8/256GB

Huawei P30 8/128GB

 

Sources : 

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/business/huawei-obtains-46-commercial-5g-contracts-from-30-countries-despite-us-ban/articleshow/69711867.cms

https://www.techradar.com/news/googles-huawei-android-restrictions-heres-what-it-means-for-you