Oliver Haslam on May 22, 2019, 4:37 am

Huawei OS Will Reportedly Be Ready As Android Alternative This Fall, Will Be Compatible With Android Apps

Huawei is currently dealing with its Android license issue thanks to US President Trump’s executive order to restrict the country’s companies from dealing with it.

That has the potential to be a huge deal for a company that is the second largest phone maker on the planet, but according to reports the company has a plan. And it involves ditching Android.

Chinese publication Caijing reports that Huawei Consumer Business Group CEO Richard You has confirmed that Huawei OS is a thing, and that it’s being worked on as an alternative to Android. The good news is that the release will be compatible with all Android apps, which is a big deal.

It was first assumed that Huawei would just rework the Android AOSP software that is a stripped down version of Android sans Google Play and other Google services. However, that doesn’t appear to be possible according to the report, thanks to proprietary Google software deep within Android.

However, despite the report having Huawei OS ready this fall, a further report from The Information says that the software is “far from ready.” Named “Project Z,” the software will rely on developers creating apps for it, meaning it may not actually be capable of running Android apps wholesale. That would be a hammer blow for Huawei and its users, and quite how it would play out isn’t something that sounds like it would have a happy ending.

Huawei will no doubt be hoping it doesn’t come to that, and that the US stance will soften before things get too dire.