It was previously thought that Huawei’s HongMeng OS would be replacing the Android operating system on its smartphones after the ordeal with the US government, but now the Chinese-based company says HongMeng isn’t for phones at all.
In a statement given to Xinhua, the Chinese government run news outlet, Huawei’s senior vice-president Catherine Chen says that the company is planning on continuing to use Android for its phones, and that HongMeng OS was designed for industrial use exclusively.
It doesn’t seem to actually have any practical use beyond R&D right now. Chen says that mobile operating systems have millions of lines of code, but HongMeng OS only has “hundreds of thousands”, making the platform more secure. It also reduces latency extensively.
Chen actually said that HongMeng OS was long in development before discussions even began about finding an Android alternative for Huawei’s phones.
As we mentioned, previous rumors circulating indicated that HongMeng OS would be an Android replacement. So after Chen’s comments, we’re not sure what HongMeng OS is for now, and we’re not sure how this affects the future of Huawei’s smartphones.
source: Xinhua