Huawei’s OS For Smartphones ‘Faster’ Than Android, Apple’s MacOS

Huawei’s founder and CEO said the company’s proprietary HongmengOS will be faster than the most popular operating systems used around the world today: Google’s Android and Apple’s MacOS.

In an interview with the French publication Viewpoint (original report in Chinese), Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei was asked how the Chinese tech giant’s homegrown OS, Hongmeng (also known as ArkOS), fares in comparison to the competition, namely Google’s Android OS and Apple’s MacOS X system. He simply said it is “very likely” better than the two.

The Chinese businessman added that Hongmeng OS will be faster than Apple’s MacOS, saying it will have less than 5-millisecond processing delay time. It is also reportedly 60% faster than Android.

Aside from boasting about its alleged processing speed, Zhengfei also said Hongmeng, which was developed by experts who observed Android and iOS, can be applied to a variety of devices not limited to smartphones, tablets and cars like how it was previously reported.

"The operating system we are developing is compatible with printed circuit boards, switches, routers, smartphones, and data centers," Zhengfei said according to a translation of the interview.

One major downside to Hongmeng, however, is its lack of a good ecosystem. Zhengfei admitted that while they worked on it being a faster and better option than Google and Apple’s offerings, they did not work as much on getting developers to develop applications for the Huawei OS.

He said Huawei is now working on alternatives to Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store, and is working on getting more developers to help give HongmengOS a good app ecosystem.

Unsure

While the Chinese CEO remains hopeful about the company’s homegrown operating system, the truth remains that it is still in development and is not yet ready to be released in the market to compete with Android and iOS.

In fact, Huawei was forced to admit that Hongmeng was in development and was forced to file trademark requests in several countries only after the Chinese company was banned in the United States.

“Huawei is not fully prepared to launch the OS as the US [trade] ban came suddenly,” a source said in a previous report from the South China Morning Post.

Now, after U.S. President Donald Trump decided to ease restrictions and allow some U.S. companies to sell “widely available” tech to the Chinese giant, Huawei continues to remain unsure if it will be able to use Google’s Android on its upcoming devices. It is, on the other hand, sure that it will continue working on Hongmeng OS, as per GSM Arena.