First Aurora-powered Huawei smartphone expected by the end of the year
When Huawei lost access to Android by being put on the US “entities list”, talks about a potential 3rd operating system re-emerged. The Chinese company has a self developed Hongmeng OS, that might be used on phones, but another alternative to Android is Rostelecom’s Aurora OS, build on top of Jolla’s Sailfish OS.
Russian state news agency TASS published a report in which the deputy minister in the Ministry of Telecommunications Mikhail Mamonov stated that a “pilot” Huawei device with Aurora OS might be released by the end of the year. Huawei is already working with Open Mobile Platform (Rostelecom’s OS development company) on an Aurora-powered device.
The deputy minister added that there are still a lot of discussions to be held, but out of respect for involved companies he refused to share further details.
Russian president Vladimir Putin at AuroraOS-powered tablet showcase (12th July, 2019)
While US president Donald Trump announced that US companies will get a licence to work with Huawei when technology not important for the national security is involved, it’s still not clear if Android OS is or will be in that category. Huawei and other Chinese manufacturers looking for alternatives might be a great development for the whole smartphone industry, considering Google basically has a smartphone OS monopoly.
In a recently published report by Counterpoint Research it was stated that major Chinese manufacturers (Huawei, BBK Group and Xiaomi) reached 42% of global smartphone market share, showing that there is a potential for a 3rd OS on the market if the Chinese vendors opt for a joint approach, in case the trade war between the US and China gets worse.
via: Suomimobiili.fi
source: TASS
