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Huawei announces plans for global EMUI 10.1 rollout
The new EMUI version was unveiled along with the P40 series
Huawei's latest iteration of its custom skin on top of Android, EMUI 10.1, was first introduced along with the P40 series in March. Back then, we didn't know when the software would make the jump to other phones internationally, even though some handsets received the update in the form of a beta. That's now changing — Huawei has announced that it will start rolling out EMUI 10.1 across its lineup starting this month.
Android 10 will come to Honor flagships starting March 15
The update is finally going stable after five months of beta testing
Honor is Huawei's successful lifestyle sub-brand that has gained quite some momentum outside of China. Being a Huawei subsidiary, it has to battle the same trade ban woes and won't be able to ship proprietary Google software on its newest handsets, while older devices are still exempted from this rule and continue to receive the familiar version of Android. Regardless of whether or not they have Google apps, a slew of Honor 20 phones and the 9X will start getting the Android 10-based Magic UI 3.0 beginning next week.
During IFA 2019 in Berlin, Huawei published a roadmap detailing when which of its devices were slated to receive Android 10. The Honor 20, 20 Pro, and View 20 are supposed to get the final version in December, so it makes sense that Huawei is now rolling out early beta access to Magic UI 3.0, the company's custom Honor skin on top of Android 10.
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At an event in London today, the Honor 20 series was unveiled with an emphasis flagship photography at an affordable price. Honor has made no secret of the fact it's targeting the youth segment of the smartphone market and it hopes this latest selection will appeal to camera-conscious youngsters on relatively small budgets.
Over the last six months or so, Honor has undertaken a rebranding exercise in part to give the impression of a more modern smartphone maker that appeals to a youthful audience and in part to distance itself from parent company Huawei. In view of recent political developments, it’s obviously hugely beneficial for Huawei to have a sub-brand that carries a different name and cachet, although they come as a package as far as Google is concerned and that looks like it could spell trouble for both.