Huawei takes on Apple
NEW FLAGSHIP: CUT LOOSE FROM ANDROID OPERATING SYSTEM
It’s business as usual as US/Chinese trade war forces changes with Mate 30 series.
Just when it looked as if the smartphone world was converging on a standard template of design, features and functionality, the trade war between China and the US has created a new divide.
On the one side, Apple two weeks ago unveiled a new series of iPhones that take will full advantage of the latest version of its operating system, iOS, now in its 13th generation. On the other side, Huawei last week launched its new flagship Mate 30 series that has been forcefully cut loose from the Android operating system.
There is much talk of Huawei’s own Horizon operating system having been in development for more than five years. However, the US bar on Huawei accessing American technology still means it loses out on the massive feature benefits of an OS that has evolved over a decade via the efforts of both its owner, Google, and a global industry of Android phone makers.
This raises the key smartphone question: can Huawei minus Android still compete with the iPhone 11 series, as well as the Samsung S10 and Note 10 ranges, which operate at the cutting edge of Android evolution?
The answer depends not so much on the technology, as on the ability of Huawei to convince its relatively new army of users it is business as usual.
That was the thrust of last week’s launch. The Chinese company’s big unveil was not so much the phone itself, as the new role of HMS, or Huawei Mobile Services. This is a direct replacement of Google Mobile Services (GMS), which essentially represent the Android ecosystem. The Play Store is an integral element of GMS. Ironically, HMS is also available as a Google Play Store download. Huawei is presently not allowed to add GMS to new handsets, which means it also cannot preinstall the Google Play Store on its new phones.
HMS includes its own advanced features, like App Gallery – a trimmed down alternative to the Play Store, with 45 000 apps available – Huawei ID, push notifications, payments, Themes, Mobile Cloud, Phone Clone and Huawei Health.
However, the handset remains compatible with Android apps. Its operating systems is a version of Android based on Android Open Source Project, which is not included in the US ban, as it is a global project, not owned by Google.