Huawei reverses decision on dual-OS smartphone

20 Mar 2014

A Huawei store in Beijing, China (photo via testing/Shutterstock)

The dream of a single smartphone packing both Android and Windows Phone is dead as Huawei backpedals on its decision to release a dual-OS device in the US this year.

Last week, Huawei’s chief marketing officer Shao Yang unequivocally confirmed that the Chinese manufacturer was planning the release of a dual-OS smartphone. He even specified it would be released in the US in Q2 this year.

The revelation was a surprising one, considering Asus had reportedly shelved its plans for a dual-OS tablet under pressure from Google and Microsoft.

Apparently, Huawei’s dual-OS confirmation was indeed too good to be true and the company has done an about-face on its decision, presumably under the same pressure from the operating systems’ makers.

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

Yang’s original comments were made in an interview with Trusted Reviews that took place last month during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Huawei is still committed to a multi-OS offering, albeit on separate devices. The company confirmed that new Windows Phone smartphones are coming in 2014.

Huawei store image by testing via Shutterstock

Elaine Burke is the host of For Tech’s Sake, a co-production from Silicon Republic and The HeadStuff Podcast Network. She was previously the editor of Silicon Republic.

editorial@siliconrepublic.com