Huawei Backtracks On Plans For Dual-OS Phone

Huawei has denied claims that it is planning to release a smartphone running both Android and Windows Phone software.

It was reported last week that the third biggest smartphone manufacturer in the world was developing a dual-OS device, having pledged support for both operating systems, however it said today that this is not the case.

“Huawei Consumer Business Group adopts an open approach towards mobile operating systems to provide a range of choices for consumers,” the company said in a statement to FierceWireless. “However, most of our products are based on Android OS, [and] at this stage there are no plans to launch a dual-OS smartphone in the near future.”

Change of plans

In an interview last week, Shao Yang, Huawei’s Chief Marketing Officer, said that Huawei was “definitely” pursuing a multi-OS strategy, using Google’s Android software alongside Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS. This would come to fruition later this year, he said, when the company would launch a dual-OS device in the US sometime in Q2 2014.

“The dual OS can be a new choice for the consumer,” Yang said.

His comments highlighted Huawei support for Microsoft’s mobile OS, although he noted that “compared with Android, the priority of Windows Phone is much lower”.

“If it is Windows only, maybe people will not find it as easy a decision to buy the phone,” Yang continued. “If they have the Android and Windows together, you can change it as you wish and it is much easier for people to choose Windows Phone.”

In today’s interview, a Huawei spokeswoman confirmed that the company would continue to work with Microsoft, saying that, “Microsoft is still a key global partner of Huawei Consumer Business Group. As long as the consumers continue to demand Windows, we will continue to supply them.”

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