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14 Huawei phones will get updated EMUI 10.1 custom skin

Huawei says EMUI 10.1 will bring better compatibility between devices and feature Celia, a voice assistant to replace Google Assistant.

Sareena Dayaram Senior Editor
Sareena is a senior editor for CNET covering the mobile beat including device reviews. She is a seasoned multimedia journalist with more than a decade's worth of experience producing stories for television and digital publications across Asia's financial capitals including Singapore, Hong Kong, and Mumbai. Prior to CNET, Sareena worked at CNN as a news writer and Reuters as a producer.
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Sareena Dayaram
2 min read

The Huawei EMUI 10 software update is based on Android 10. 

César Salza / CNET en Español

After debuting on Huawei 's P40 series in March, the Chinese telecom announced Wednesday that 14 of its phones will receive EMUI 10.1, the latest version of its custom skin EMUI 10, as part of an international rollout. This update means most Huawei phones will soon have the same user interface.

Huawei will begin the rollout of EMUI 10.1 later this month, bringing it to premium phones including the Huawei P30 Pro , Huawei Mate 20 as well as budget phones like Nova 5T and Nova 7i. The Chinese phone maker didn't disclose how long the global release will take, but reports indicate it will be about a month. You can scroll down to see a full list of the phones that will receive the update. 

Aside from updates to its user interface, EMUI 10.1 introduces Cecilia, a virtual assistant that will replace Google Assistant on phones without  Google Mobile Services. Cecilia can be used in English, Spanish and French for now. It will be made available on the Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro in select countries in Europe as well as parts of South America. 

Huawei MeeTime lets you make video calls and share your screen.

Huawei

Huawei also upgraded Huawei Share, its version of Apple's AirDrop and MeeTime, which is a video conferencing app that allows you to connect with 1080p quality video. It'll be available in select countries in Asia, including Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, along with Saudi Arabia and South Africa. 

EMUI 10 is the biggest visual update to Huawei's OS in years. It's also increasingly important to Huawei due to the Chinese phone-maker's ongoing dispute with the United States. Huawei doesn't currently have access to Google Mobile Services, which means its phones can't use the Google Play Store, Gmail or Google Maps  nor do they have the full might of  Google's  Android operating system. The EMUI 10 version of the custom skin is based on open-source Android 10, which is a more generic version. It includes many of the OS's features along with some proprietary elements and a new user interface. 

Read more: An in-depth look at Huawei's EMUI 10 

Starting later in June, Huawei will rollout out EMUI 10.1 to more of its phones.

Huawei

Here's a list of the Huawei phones that will receive the update: