Xiaomi and OPPO on the run from Android: they test Huawei’s alternative

Huawei is reportedly testing together with Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo the new mobile operating system that will replace Android. The first tests have been satisfactory

China is teaming up and squaring off around Huawei, recently hit by Donald Trump's ban that caused the loss of official support from Google Android and the subsequent announcement of an alternative operating system, called HongMeng or Ark OS, developed in house by the Chinese company.

According to the latest rumors (which are actually artfully leaked news), Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo and Tencent are also reportedly testing Huawei's mobile OS on their devices. The main Chinese manufacturers, therefore, come to the rescue of the most powerful Chinese company in the world of electronics and send a very clear message to Donald Trump's America: if it has to be war, Huawei will have strong allies. Giving strength to this message is the fact that the "indiscretion" was published by the Global Times, a Chinese newspaper directly controlled by the Communist Party. It is therefore a practically official message from China to the United States.

Huawei OS: tests on Chinese smartphones

According to the Global Times, there would be already the results of the first tests of HongMeng/Ark OS on the devices of Vivo, Oppo, Tencent and Xiaomi. And they would also be very good results: up to 60% faster than Google's Android operating system. It is not known, however, with what tools the speed of Huawei's operating system was measured. The new OS, moreover, would be already very stable and substantially ready for the market (the latest rumors speak of October as the launch date).

A million smartphones with HongMeng

The stability of the operating system would be confirmed by another news: Huawei would have already installed HongMeng/Ark OS on at least 1 million smartphones, in order to test it thoroughly. It would not be, therefore, a few tests artfully organized by Huawei to show its strength to the US, but a real industrial alternative, credible and almost ready for the market.

The birth of the Chinese bloc?

The indiscretions published by the Global Times are not at all good news for the US tech industry: the sales volumes of Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo and Tencent, when added all together, translate into hundreds of millions of smartphones every year. Sales estimates for Huawei alone are 200 million units sold in 2019. A huge slice of the smartphone market, therefore, within a few months could flee from Android to switch to the new operating system with economic repercussions, for the Mountain View giant, that could be catastrophic. But also with important political consequences: if all Chinese manufacturers would make a single block, as it would seem that they are preparing to do, the Huawei ban of Donald Trump would prove to be a resounding boomerang.