Huawei’s Android license will not be revoked immediately and the company has been given a temporary relief of 90 days.Huawei is said to be working on its own operating system, which will be available later this fall after Google suspended the company’s Android license. According to a report by Chinese publication Caijing, the CEO of Huawei Consumer Business Group Richard Yu has revealed that its OS will be ready by fall this year or latest by next spring.
Huawei’s new OS will be available for its mobile phones, computers, tablets, TVs, cars and smart wearable devices, the report adds. It will also be compatible with Android apps as well as web apps.
The move comes as Google will eventually pull out its proprietary services from Huawei devices given that the Chinese company has been added to the ‘Entity List’ by the US government, which prohibits US companies from doing business with a firm on this.
This means that future Huawei devices will not include apps like Google Play Protect, Gmail, Google Chrome and YouTube. This is a major blow to Huawei, which is the second largest smartphone manufacturer in the world, according to research firm Canalys.
Also read: Google is suspending Huawei’s Android license: What does it mean for Huawei smartphone users?
However, a report in The Information (via XDA Developers) claims that the software, internally referred to as Project Z, is far from ready. According to the report, the company has been working on the project for many years but its intention was to release it in its home country China.
Even though Huawei can still use Android from the AOSP (Android Open Source Project) to build its OS, it doesn’t look easy. The company might face other issues given the US Commerce Department has blocked Huawei from buying US goods. For any new products, Huawei is prohibited from buying American parts and components without any license approvals, which includes OS licensed to the US companies. The temporary relief only stays valid till August 19, 2019.
Read more: Explained: Why news of Google suspending business with Huawei is important
Another issue the company might face is to convince millions of people using the Android ecosystem on its devices to give up, especially given almost half of its shipments go outside China. Further, The Information believes that compatibility with Android apps could be difficult as Huawei is working with third-party developers for apps for its new OS.
Huawei’s Android license will not be revoked immediately and the company has been given a temporary relief of 90 days. Google has said that crucial services like Google Play and Google Play Protect will continue working on existing Huawei devices, but it is unclear whether future updates will come to these phones or not.
