Chinese phone manufacturer, Huawei, is set to ditch the Android operating system (OS) and replace with its own newly designed Hongmeng OS, a top official at the company has confirmed.
Andrew Williamson, Vice President, Huawei Public Affairs and Communications, disclosed that the company would soon unveil its new OS soon.
“Huawei is in the process of potentially launching a replacement,” Williamson said in an interview in Mexico City. “Presumably we’ll be trying to put trademarks.”
Huawei’s plan to design and launch its own OS follows the decision by the American multinational technology company and owners of the Android OS, Alphabet Inc., to suspend its support services to the phone manufacturer’s product.
The action by Alphabet Inc, owners of Google, comes after the United States government prohibited its tech companies from conducting business with Huawei, following claims that the Chinese company may utilise its 5G network to spy on Western nations and its allies.
The ban is also as a result of the ongoing trade war between the US and China.
According to data from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a United Nations agency, Huawei has applied for a patent in nine countries, including Cambodia, Canada, South Korea and New Zealand. Peru, via its anti-trust agency, Indecopi, also claimed that the company had filed an application on May 27.
Huawei’s application for a trademark in China was approved last month, according to information on the country’s intellectual property administration’s website.
The company, which is the world’s biggest maker of telecoms network gear and the world’s second-largest maker of smartphones, has, however, not yet revealed details about its OS.
