A Huawei executive, in an interview, has revealed plans to launch a Windows Phone-Android hybrid smartphone later this year.
“We are still committed to making Windows Phone devices,” Shao Yang, Huawei’s CMO, told TrustedReviews.com in an interview published Wednesday. The executive countered, however, that Android devices are a higher priority, and that a “dual OS” strategy might be necessary.
“If it is Windows only, maybe people will not find it as easy a decision to buy the phone. If they have the Android and Windows together, you can change it as you wish and it is much easier for people to choose Windows Phone,” he said, adding that Huawei will debut a dual OS device in the US in the second quarter.
Yang didn’t provide any additional details about the device, and as of this writing Huawei has not made any other statements concerning the device.
Dual OS prospects have attracted attention in recent months, as evidence mounts that future Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone devices could include access to Android apps. Intel introduced a chip optimized for such devices in January at the Consumer Electronics Show, including demonstrations of the Asus Transformer Book Duet TD 300, the first device to use the new processor.
Nokia, whose device business Microsoft is acquiring, also released its Nokia X platform last month at Mobile World Congress. Aimed at emerging markets, Nokia X offers an Android base with various Nokia and Microsoft services layered on top. Nokia CEO Stephen Elop, who will join Microsoft as part of the acquisition, said at the time that the devices would constitute a “feeder system” for Windows platforms. It remains unclear, however, if Microsoft will support Nokia X once its purchase has cleared
