Huawei HongMeng OS will ‘likely’ be faster than Android – but it’ll have one key weakness
Huawei’s HongMeng OS, will ‘likely’ be faster than Google Android, according to the company’s founder and CEO, Ren Zhengfei.
The Chinese tech mogul made the claim during an interview with French publication Le Point on Friday. He didn’t get into specifics about how much faster the Huawei made operating system is, but a previous report in the Global Times reported the OS could be as much as 60% speedier.
HongMeng OS is a new operating system Huawei is developing as a potential replacement for Android. The company has reportedly been working on it for quite some time, but was forced to speedline its development after a US executive order forced numerous tech companies to cut ties with it in May.
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The executive order forced Google to diminish its ties with Huawei, making it unclear if future Huawei phones, such as the Huawei Mate 30, will be able to get an official Android license. Without it the phones will not get official software support from Google and will be cut off from key things, including the Play Store.
Outside of this details about HongMeng OS are fairly thin on the ground, though it will apparently work on numerous different technologies outside of smartphones and tablets. These include desktops, cars and even data centres according to Le Point’s report.
Zhengfei also reportedly indicated the company may choose to move to use HongMeng even if the US ban was lifted. Trusted Reviews contacted Huawei for comment on Le Point’s report but at the time of publishing hadn’t heard back.
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Even if the company’s OS is as optimised as Zhengfei indicates, it will have one key problem to get round: it needs an app store. In China, where Google has a very small footprint, there are multiple different mobile app stores. But in the West most Android users predominantly use the official Play Store.
Unless Huawei can miraculously find an equally well stocked marketplace, or somehow make its own – something Microsoft and BlackBerry tried and failed to do – HongMeng OS could struggle to get any traction outside of its home territory.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
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We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.