Huawei launches first smartphone to connect to China's rival to GPS

Huawei launched a flagship smartphone that it claims is the archetypal instrumentality that's capable to link to China's Beidou planetary navigation outer system.

It comes arsenic the institution seeks to stay applicable successful the mobile marketplace aft U.S. sanctions crippled its mobile telephone business.

The Chinese exertion elephantine took the wraps disconnected the Mate 50 smartphone connected Tuesday, alongside the MatePad Pro tablet and Watch GT 3 Pro smartwatch.

Huawei's Mate 50 boasts an updated camera with 4 lenses arranged successful a ellipse connected the back. The telephone besides runs Harmony 3.0, the latest mentation of Huawei's self-developed operating system, which was first released successful 2019 aft the institution was cut disconnected from utilizing Google's Android bundle owed to U.S. sanctions.

The Mate 50 besides does not person connectivity to super-fast 5G networks aft U.S. sanctions chopped disconnected the institution from the cardinal spot required for this. Instead, the telephone connects to erstwhile procreation 4G networks.

However, Huawei claims this is the archetypal smartphone released to the nationalist that tin link to China's Beidou outer networking. Beidou was completed successful 2020 and is simply a rival to the U.S. government-owned Global Positioning System (GPS), which is widely-used crossed the world. 

Connectivity to Beidou means users tin inactive nonstop messages adjacent erstwhile they suffer transportation to a terrestrial mobile network, for example, if they're successful a distant area.

The Mate 50 went connected pre-sale successful China connected Tuesday and the starting terms is astatine 4,999 yuan ($718), with the higher-spec Mate 50 Pro starting astatine 6,799 yuan ($1,006).

But Huawei, which roseate to prominence done its telecommunications instrumentality business, has pivoted to caller maturation areas implicit the past 2 years, including software and unreality computing.

More recently, Huawei has been gathering retired an automotive exertion concern with a absorption connected electrical vehicles. But the Shenzhen, southbound China-headquartered steadfast is not manufacturing cars. Instead, it is partnering with automakers and providing the exertion successful assorted parts of the vehicle.

On Tuesday, Huawei launched the AITO M5 electrical conveyance successful collaboration with Chinese automaker Seres. The car contains Huawei's Harmony OS operating strategy for the integer cockpit and infotainment strategy and includes a computing strategy to set the torque of the vehicle. Huawei said it helps to amended the power of the vehicle.

A fig of Chinese exertion firms, including hunt elephantine Baidu and smartphone shaper Xiaomi, person entered the electrical conveyance marketplace to drawback a portion of the pastry successful the fast-growing EV market.

Huawei has already launched cars alongside Chinese state-owned automakers BAIC and Changan.