Huawei has for long offered Android updates on its devices that are tied to the latest version from Google and, its own custom take, EMUI, at least once every year. The announcement from Huawei regarding which devices it. is upgrading to a newer version of EMUI usually comes hot on the heels of the final release of a newer version of Android.
Given the happenings of May 2019 that saw the Chinese company stopped from partnering with US-based entities like Google, which provides the Android software it needs for its mobile devices, things have been a bit different this year.
Huawei announced the latest version of EMUI without the traditional attachment to Android, a sign of things to come, if what we know now is anything to go by (that Huawei will eventually move its entire smartphone base to its own platform, HarmonyOS, starting with ones that are currently in circulation). Interestingly, though, it is still EMUI 11, the number part of the name following a pattern that Huawei has stuck with for a number of years where its custom software builds have a number name that matches the Android version they are going out with at the time.
EMUI 11 brings with it its own distinct feature set and upgrades to features found on its predecessor, EMUI 10.
These include visual changes like animated customizable Always-On Display (AOD) widgets (can now include any image, live video, GIFs etc), an updated gallery application that apes what we have seen brands like vivo do with organization that closely matches what we have known and loved about Google Photos for long, fluid animations to keep up with the high-refresh-rate displays that are becoming the norm, a new multi-tasking interface dubbed “Smart Multi-window”, a revamped notes app that now includes optical character recognition (OCR) and more.
Notice how we didn’t mention any of the Android 11 features that everyone is looking forward to? Huawei has since clarified its position on the matter, telling Android Authority that, “after Android 11 is officially open-sourced, we will selectively incorporate some of its features into EMUI 11.” Before it does so, this move is reminiscent of what compatriot Xiaomi has been doing over the years which has allowed it to bring newer custom features it adds to the standard Android builds to even older devices that, by virtue of age, hardware capability or other factors, don’t get the new version(s) of Android.
The EMUI 11 update has been rolling out since last month, albeit in beta and word is that the stable builds will start arriving from later this month.
- Huawei Nova 5 Pro
- Huawei Nova 6
- Huawei Nova 6 5G
- Huawei Nova 7
- Huawei Nova 7 Pro
- Huawei P30
- Huawei P30 Pro
- Huawei P30 Pro New Edition
- Huawei P40 Lite
- Huawei P40 Lite 5G
- Huawei P40
- Huawei P40 Pro
- Huawei P40 Pro+
- Huawei Mate X
- Huawei Mate Xs
- Huawei Mate 20
- Huawei Mate 20 Pro
- Huawei Mate 20 X (4G)
- Huawei Mate 20 X (5G)
- Huawei Mate 20 Porsche RS
- Huawei Mate 30
- Huawei Mate 30 5G
- Huawei Mate 30 Pro
- Huawei Mate 30 Pro 5G
- Huawei Mate 30 RS Porsche Design
While our headline will have you thinking that Huawei is solely focused on smartphones, there’s a tablet, the Huawei MatePad Pro which is also set to make the jump to EMUI 11 for both its 4G and 5G variants.
NB:
- We have focused solely on Huawei devices and sidestepped those from the sub-brand Honor. This list also includes some models that will probably never make it to the Kenyan market, at least on an official basis.
- The above list is from an official document circulated on Chinese social media platforms at the end of last month and subsequent updates made to it and shared. There are lots of other devices on other lists flying around that Huawei hasn’t said anything about their upgrade to EMUI 11, yet. As always, that will change over coming days.
