“Huawei smartphone with its own operating system may appear this year.

Huawei would test a smartphone with its own operating system Hongmeng. The phone may appear at the end of this year, as several Chinese media report.

Huawei has been working on the operating system for some time, which was on stand-by when the US banned the export of American products. This ban was introduced when Huawei was blacklisted in May this year. As a result, US companies can only do business with the Chinese manufacturer if they receive a licence from the US government to do so.

With the launch of a smartphone with its own operating system, Huawei is taking a big step. The device should cost about 2,000 yuan (254 euros), reports Reuters. This means that the device is now in the low-end segment of the smartphone market. The phone should only appear in China.

Other purposes

Huawei said earlier that a version of Hongmeng for the Chinese market could be ready this autumn. A version for markets outside China should be completed in the first or second quarter of 2020.

Later, founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei said that the operating system will be 60 percent faster than Android. In addition, it is not only suitable for smarthpones, but also for printed circuit boards, switches, routers and data centres. The operating system has been further adapted for the Internet of Things and use in self-propelled cars.

The company said last month that the first major devices that Homgmeng will get, are the upcoming line of smart TVs under the Honor brand. The possibility of using the operating system for smartphones has been pushed further and further into the background by the company. There are even rumours that the operating system is not intended to replace Android at all.

Android has preference

President Liang Hua said last week during the announcement of the figures for the first half of 2019 that Huawei prefers to use Android for its mobile devices. Hongmeng was only mentioned as part of the “long-term strategy”.

The company’s turnover grew by 23 percent in the first half of 2019, despite being blacklisted in the US. The growth is partly due to a high demand in China for the company’s mobile phones.