In just one week, Huawei has gone from announcing its plan to come out with a dual-boot Windows Phone and Android device to cancelling those same plans. When the idea was first made public, Huawei said that it was going to release the phone in the Sprint but in a recent statement to FierceWireless, it dialed back the announcement.
A spokesperson for the company told the technology publication that “at this stage there are no plans to launch a dual-OS smartphone in the near future.” Last week, Huawei’s chief marketing officer Shao Yang had confirmed that the company was indeed working on a “dual OS” smartphone. However, it is now possible that Yang misrepresented the company’s plans or was simply talking about Huawei’s potential interest in such a device.
Dual-boot devices have become a popular topic over the past year, with some companies beginning to put the idea into development.
Asus, for example, has reportedly angered Google and Microsoft because of its plan to come out with a laptop that transforms between Windows and Android.
In the realm of smartphones, there is also some interest in dual-boot devices and Karbonn is reportedly set to come out with one within the next few months. Other companies may very well be working on them as well, but if so, their plans have remained a secret.
Huawei has stated however that it will continue to expand its lineup of Windows Phone devices because so far, a large portion of its handsets use Android.
Since it was only a short time ago that Huawei announced its dual-boot smartphone plans, it may still be working on the device but is not planning on pushing it out in the near future. Without any other devices to base it off of, there is no way to currently tell if a dual-boot phone would catch on in the market or not, making it a riskier business decision.
Summary: Huawei has confirmed that it is no longer planning on coming out with a dual-boot smartphone by the Spring. The company previously showed interest in bringing a dual-boot Android and Windows Phone handset to the market.
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