Huawei keeps market guessing whether new Honor smart displays will run on its own Hongmeng OS
- The global smart TV market was worth US$158.4 billion in 2018 and is expected to reach US$293.5 billion globally by 2025
Ever since Chinese telecoms giant Huawei Technologies faced a potential ban on the use of Google’s Android operating system (OS) after being placed on a US blacklist, company executives have kept the market guessing about when it might release its much talked about in-house developed OS.
The company’s latest move suggests the answer could come within a month. Honor, one of two smartphone brands owned by Huawei, announced on Monday that it will release the company’s first smart display in early August, without disclosing further details on the product.
Based on recent statements by Huawei executives, it now seems likely that the smart display will be equipped with Huawei’s OS, known as “Hongmeng”. The executives have said in various media interviews that the OS would be able to support a range of products and systems within its ecosystem, including smartphones, computers, tablets, TVs, automobiles and smart wear.
The Hongmeng OS will also be compatible with all Android applications and existing web applications, Huawei’s mobile chief Richard Yu Chengdong was quoted as saying in a Securities Times report published on May 21.
“The Huawei OS is likely to hit the market as soon as this fall, and no later than spring next year,” Yu said in a WeChat group discussion. The screenshot of the conversation has been widely circulated on Chinese media, but Huawei has declined to verify the information with the media.
Huawei’s own OS is under the spotlight as it is considered an alternative the Chinese company can use to replace Google’s Android and Microsoft’s Windows on Huawei smartphones, laptops and tablets after the Shenzhen firm was placed on a US trade blacklist that barred it from using key technologies from the US.