Huawei's founder Ren Zhengfei says their mobile OS will be much faster than Android
HongMeng OS expected to launch in October alongside the Mate 30 Pro smartphone
Huawei's forthcoming HongMeng mobile operating system will be faster than Android and able to run on a variety of devices, including laptops.
That's according to the company's founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei, who made the claims during an interview with French magazine Le Point.
HongMeng (or Ark OS) could launch alongside Huawei's Mate 30 Pro smartphone as soon as October this year, according to some reports.
The company was forced to speed up the work on its mobile operating system following the US government's decision in May to include the company on its 'Entity List'. This barred US companies from doing business with Huawei without a licence for each trade from the US Department of Commerce.
Following the US government's decision, Google announced that the withdrawal of its Android licence from Huawei in order to comply with the US government sanctions, later relenting after the US government gave Huawei a 90-day stay of execution.
Recently, President Trump also indicated that he might reverse the ban on Huawei entirely, enabling it to purchase products and technology freely from US firms. However, it appears that Huawei has decided to prepare for the possibility that it may no longer have access to Android by developing AppGallery, its alternative to the Google Play Store.
According to Zhengfei, Huawei's HongMeng operating system will have a processing delay of just five milliseconds, which will make it much faster than Android and MacOS. The operating system will also be compatible with a variety of devices, including laptops, tablets, network switches, routers and servers.
Zhengfei admitted that HongMeng currently lacks an app store, which could affect its chances of success.
In a separate interview with the Financial Times, Zhengfei said that Huawei values the privacy of its customers, and would never share users' data with the Chinese government, the way Apple never provides sensitive data to any company or agency.
"We will never do such a thing. If I had done it even once, the US would have evidence to spread around the world. Then the 170 countries and regions in which we currently operate would stop buying our products, and our company would collapse," Zhengfei was quoted as saying.
"After that, who would pay the debts we owe? Our employees are all very competent, so they would resign and start their own companies, leaving me alone to pay off our debts. I would rather die."
Zhengfei also asserted that the fears of the US government are baseless as the Chinese government manages private firms through taxation and legal frameworks only, and doesn't interfere in their day-to-day business operations.