One new report citing a Chinese publication says the launch was delayed for reasons related to HarmonyOS.
The phones entered the beta 3 test phase about two weeks ago and it seems that things are not going as planned.
The report is limited in detail, but implies that Huawei still does not have enough confidence in its multiplatform operating system to give up Android altogether. As a result, the launch would have been postponed until May. Previous leaks had said the phones would be revealed at the end of March.
Huawei’s current smartphones, including the foldable Mate X2, run an open source version of Android. THE The beta version of the company’s operating system has been available for download on multiple devices, including Mate 30 and MatePad Pro, since December 2020. The company plans to start the official launch in April. It will also share the roadmap for upgrading older phones to the internal operating system next month.
Today’s report also reiterates that the P50 series will consist of three models: the P50, P50 Pro and P50 Plus.
Google severed ties with Huawei because of sanctions imposed by the United States and the company’s phones are now sold without a licensed version of Android. The open source version lacks important Google services, such as Gmail. The company has its own app store (known as AppGallery) and services in an ecosystem called Huawei Mobile Services (HMS), which is similar to Google Mobile Services.
From at the end of February, AppGallery had more than 530 million monthly active users and HMS had 2.3 million registered developers globally.