To anyone who’s been following tech news for a few months now, you’ve probably been aware of the ongoing tensions between Chinese OEM Huawei and the US government. Security specialists have accused the company of having close ties to the Chinese government and therefore poses a security risk to US consumers. Reports are saying that Huawei has been developing its own OS for some time now so it will have a fallback in case Google decides to discontinue letting them use the Android platform.
It won’t be the first time that other players have tried to go up against the Android and iOS juggernauts, at least when it comes to their own platforms. Microsoft has its Windows Mobile OS, Samsung has its Tizen system, and Nokia’s Symbian platform. People “familiar with the matter” are saying that Huawei is also developing and even trying to perfect their own OS, not just for smartphones but as well as for tablets and personal computers.
The sources are saying they actually started it back in 2012 when another Chinese company, ZTE, started getting in trouble with the US government. There is currently a ban for ZTE to use American products and services and there’s a strong possibility they will lose their license to use the Android platform. But Honor (a brand owned by Huawei) President Zhao Ming said that while the company is capable of having their own OS, he doesn’t think it’s necessary at this point.
The company itself said it “has no plans to release its own OS in the foreseeable future” but with an escalating trade dispute between the US and China, it probably wouldn’t hurt for Huawei to have a back-up plan.
