Huawei Planning To Release Dual-OS Smartphone

Huawei has confirmed that it is preparing to release a smartphone running both Windows Phone and Android operating systems later this year, as it emphasised its continuing support for both types of software.

In an interview, the company pledged it would continue to support Microsoft’s mobile OS, but that Android devices would remain its primary focus due to the operating system’s greater market share.

“We are still committed to making Windows Phone devices,” Shao Yang, Huawei’s Chief Marketing Officer told TrustedReviews. “(But) compared with Android, the priority of Windows Phone is much lower but is still one of our choices of OS. We are definitely using a multi OS strategy.”

Doubling up

The crux of this strategy will come later this year, Yang confirmed, stating that Huawei is planning to release a dual-OS device in the US sometime in Q2 2014, as it believes that, “the dual OS can be a new choice for the consumer.”

“With Windows Phone, one direction for us – and one that we are now following – is dual OS. Dual OS as in Android and Windows together,” he said.

“If it is Windows only, maybe people will not find it as easy a decision to buy the phone. 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.”

Huawei has steadily grown over the last few years to become a major player in the mobile device industry, having previously been known primarily for its networking and telecoms equipment. Recent research shows that it has now become the world’s third-biggest smartphone manufacturer, with a 5.1 percent global share of the market, behind Samsung (35.2 percent) and Apple (13.4 percent).

This rise is mainly due to a huge growth in demand from a rapidly developing Chinese market, which contributed around 50 percent of the company’s growth.  With smartphones now making up to 23 percent of its revenue, up from 22 percent in 2013, Huawei has also announced that it plans to increase shipments of these devices to 80 million next year, up from 52m in 2012.

The company revealed a range of new devices at Mobile World Congress last month, including its first foray into wearable technology. The TalkBand B1, described by Huawei as, ‘the perfect hybrid ‘talk and track’ companion’, will be able to sync with Android and iOS devices via NFC or Bluetooth to provide activity tracking information, and will be available in Europe sometime in Q2 2014.

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