Huawei EMUI 11 Update Schedule Gives A Tiny Bit Of Hope
Huawei has really been hit hard this year, and not just because of the novel coronavirus. Sanctions and restrictions from the US may cause it to fold, raising concerns about its capability to continue supporting existing customers and products. As if trying to assuage those fears, Huawei has just published a massive and ambitious roadmap for updating its existing phones to its latest EMUI 11 across the world. But while it is generally good news, the fine print still leads to some rather disappointing points in Huawei's mobile business.
Huawei's advertised roadmap for EMUI 11 updates is a rather long list that covers a wide range of smartphone models across the world, except the US of course. Huawei is promising that it will able completed by the first quarter of 2021, which is why it's a rather ambitious promise considering the company failed to finish its EMUI 10.1 rollout to those markets. Unfortunately, that long list also belies the number of smartphones that aren't actually included in its update plans.
The Huawei Mate 30 and P40 series are, unsurprisingly, the first to receive the update, which Huawei says should start next month. Suspiciously absent, however, are the Lite versions of these models, which leaves them in inconsistent EMUI versions. The list also doesn't include any of the company's P smart and Y series phones, suggesting that Huawei has probably forgotten about its mid-range products.
The other caveat is that, despite the name, EMUI 11 is actually based on last year's Android 10 only. Huawei has yet to actually make the jump to Android 11 if it could at all. Given it is reported operating under "survival mode", giving its users the latest Android version is probably the least of its worries.
This EMUI 11 Update Plan is clearly Huawei's way of showing that it is business as usual. Sadly, it's not exactly the reassuring message that its customers may have wanted to hear. Still, given everything that's happening to the company, owners of recent P and Mate series phones will still have to look forward to, presuming the company does deliver on time in the next four months.