Huawei says Hongmeng OS isn't designed as an Android replacement

Huawei reportedly wants to keep using Google's Android operating system in its phones instead of jumping to its self-developed Hongmeng system. Company senior vice president Catherine Chen told reporters in Brussels on Thursday that the Hongmeng OS isn't even designed for phones, according to Chinese state news agency Xinhua.

Chen apparently said Hongmeng is for industrial use, noting that it contains far fewer lines of code than a phone OS, and has much lower latency than a phone, meaning it can process a  very high volume of data messages with little delay.

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Company chairman Liang Hua said last week that Hongmeng was mainly developed for internet of things (IoT) devices, according to TechNode, and Huawei hasn't decided if it'll be applied as a phone OS.

We got the first rumblings that Huawei trademarked Hongmeng in China after Google locked the company out of its Android updates in May, following the US government blacklisting Huawei networking gear and President Donald Trump signing an executive order effectively banning it. Google resumed work with Huawei after the US eased restrictions.

Huawei didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

First published at 2:15 a.m. PT.
Updated at 2:50 a.m. PT: Adds more detail.

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