Huawei to Launch a 'Blockchain-Ready' Smartphone; Mate 11 to Get In Display Fingerprint Sensor: Reports

Chinese smartphone giant Huawei might be looking to announce a new smartphone that is said to be compatible with blockchain technology. Popularised by the advent of cryptocurrency, blockchain is essentially a decentralised management system that allows users to transfer funds or data through a non-regulated system. For this project, Huawei has reportedly tied up with Switzerland-based Sirin Labs to incorporate the latter's Sirin OS on the upcoming Huawei smartphone; it will run alongside Android OS. separately, a new report suggests that Huawei's upcoming Mate 11 flagship could feature Qualcomm's ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensors.

A Bloomberg reports cites sources familiar with the project to claim that Huawei is readying up a "blockchain-ready" smartphone in partnership with Sirin Labs. This phone will be able to run blockchain-based applications alongside regular Android functionality. However, the talks are said to be in the preliminary phase and development is yet to start. Additionally, representatives from both Huawei as well as Sirin Labs have confirmed the meetings but have denied to comment on the specifics.

Talking about the exclusive features that the Huawei smartphone is expected to arrive with include an "embedded cold storage crypto wallet" to help cryptocurrency owners store digital assets offline, and a system to fiat money into digital tokens.

The report also notes that Sirin Labs is working on its own blockchain-compatible smartphone. Dubbed the "Finney" phone, Sirin Labs is expected to sell it for a price of $1,000 (roughly Rs. 65,000) in the second half of 2018. The company currently has 25,000 pre-orders for this handset.

Independently, a report by Digitimes claims that Huawei's upcoming flagship smartphone - Mate 11 - will sport Qualcomm's ultrasonic fingerprint sensing technology. For that, Qualcomm has reportedly tied up with GIS and O-film Tech to create its proprietary in display fingerprint sensors that are expected to be seen on phones from other Android OEMs by 2019.