All change for Android<\/p>\n
AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Whisper it quietly \u2014 Android might be heading for something of a nightmare, even a disaster. After the tumult of losing Huawei to U.S. sanctions, prompting what was once Android\u2019s leading OEM to go its own way, this could be the beginning of something much worse. It would be a setback for Google. But for Samsung, it\u2019s decision time.<\/p>\n
The Huawei news was bad enough for Android. I warned at the time of the initial sanctions stripping Google from Huawei phones that this risked China going alone, bad news for U.S. tech<\/a>. We\u2019re five years on and Huawei\u2019s Harmony OS has enabled their Android-free phones to chase down Vivo for top spot in China\u2019s vast market.<\/p>\n But now China\u2019s market-leading Vivo, its fourth-placed Oppo, and Xiaomi, the third-best selling phone-maker globally, may have a nasty surprise for Android\u2019s ecosystem. As XiaomiTime<\/a> explains, \u201cthere have been rumors in the tech space of a collaboration among three Chinese tech players \u2013 Xiaomi, BBK Group (parent company of OPPO, Vivo, and OnePlus), and Huawei \u2013 to launch a Google-free Android alternative.\u201d<\/p>\n ForbesGoogle\u2019s New Update Scans Your Screenshots For LocationsBy Zak Doffman<\/a><\/p>\n This move would leave Samsung as the only top selling brand<\/a> still running Android. Huawei was once up there and has already gone. Xiaomi, Vivo and Oppo are the others. Per GSMArena<\/a>, \u201cwhile Huawei lost its global dominance, Xiaomi, vivo and Oppo are in the Top 5 globally, so if they start selling Google-free phones it would have a major impact on the market.\u201d To put it more starkly, it would be a game-changer for Android.<\/p>\n And it isn\u2019t just Google and Android in the crosshairs. Last week, the South China Morning Post<\/a> reported on \u201cHuawei unveiling [its] first laptop running [its] self-developed HarmonyOS as [its] Windows licence expires\u2026 the laptop, which has not yet been named, operates HarmonyOS 5, also referred to as HarmonyOS Next, the latest iteration of the system. Most Huawei laptops in the market currently run Windows.”<\/p>\n On the smartphone side, Samsung is already Android\u2019s leading OEM, albeit Huawei was chasing it down hard for top spot (and occasionally winning) before sanctions took hold. If China\u2019s other leading brands also drop out, Samsung would be the only major Android player other than Google itself, still in the ecosystem.<\/p>\n ForbesCheck For Update On Your Phone\u2014Apps Stop Working This MonthBy Zak Doffman<\/a><\/p>\n Separately to this emerging China story, Samsung is already suffering from its need to follow Google\u2019s lead at every turn, with Pixels always coming first. We saw this with Android 15 and Samsung\u2019s long delays, we\u2019re seeing it now with Android 16\u2019s beta and likely rollout schedule, and we see it every month \u2014 including this month<\/a>, when security releases make their way to Pixels much more efficiently than to anyone else.<\/p>\n If \u2014 and it\u2019s a big if for now \u2014 the other leading Chinese OEMs collaborate around a common OS, with Huawei\u2019s advanced Android alternative as a starter, Samsung will have the opportunity to redefine Android and its relationship with Google. It can still take the apps and the AI, but it would be an opportunity to create an ecosystem more closely resembling Apple\u2019s and Google\u2019s than it has now.<\/p>\n