Once again USA has put Huawei on entity list barring company to access essential U.S. components and technology. And the world’s second-largest smartphone manufacturer is now trying to make a Russian operating system as its Android replacement.
According to Reuters, Huawei is in talks with the Russian Ministry of Communications to launch a ‘Pilot Program’ to replace Android with state-sponsored software Aurora OS.
Aurora OS is a version of Sailfish OS developed by Russian telecom firm Rostelecom and the company is controlled by the Russian government.
As the first stage of launching, Huawei will install Aurora OS on 360,000 Huawei tablets in Russia by August 2020. In Russia, Google services are less popular than in most countries, and using Aurora OS could make for an easier transition away from Android.
According to re[ports, U.S. trade restrictions could cut Huawei smartphone unit’s revenue by about $10 billion this year.
Huawei already launched its in-house operating system — Harmony OS, which is, in fact, is now limited to IoT devices and the company is planning to use it in smartphone too if they fail to found a better Android alternative.