With the arrival of HarmonyOS, Huawei has shuffled the cards in the world of mobile operating systems. Here’s what changes in Huawei smartphones
With the presentation of the new Harmony OS, Huawei has launched its own challenge to Google and Apple: a new OS is coming that can create more than a headache for the U.S. giants. Huawei also wanted to give a signal to Donald Trump: if on August 19 will be confirmed the commercial blockade by the United States, the Chinese company has already ready the alternative solution.
Huawei was working on the operating system for two years, but only in recent months (following the decision of the President of the United States to include Huawei in the black list of undesirable companies) has decided to accelerate the development to make Harmony OS usable on multiple platforms. One of the most important features of the new OS is precisely the flexibility of use, it will be available on all devices in the Huawei ecosystem: smartwatches, tablets, smart speaker computers, headsets, virtual reality devices. For the moment, however, it is not expected to arrive on smartphones, although Huawei has announced that it takes only two days to port an Android app to Harmony OS. Google is warned: a new challenger has arrived and has every intention of becoming a major player in the software world.
Huawei smartphones: what changes in the immediate
For owners of Huawei smartphones, nothing changes in the immediate. They will continue to receive Android updates, as confirmed by the company itself during the Huawei Developers Conference, the event dedicated to developers held in these days in China.
Huawei has also presented the new EMUI 10, the user interface based on Android 10 Q. A sign that in recent months, despite the trade block wanted by Donald Trump, Huawei and Google have continued to work together to optimize the Android operating system. For this reason, Huawei users do not have to worry: they will be able to continue using their smartphones without any problem or fear.
Huawei smartphones: what changes in the future
The future of the Harmony OS is all to be written. Huawei showed during the presentation press conference a road map that includes two more milestones: in 2020 the release of Harmony OS 2.0, with support for new devices, and in 2021 the arrival of HarmonyOS 3.0 with support for virtual reality devices as well. What about smartphones?
Huawei did not focus on cell phones, but wanted to highlight some features of the operating system to send a message to opponents: to make the transition of an Android app to HarmonyOS takes only two days. Moreover, developers only have to make the application once: it adapts automatically to the various devices.
Another aspect not to be underestimated is the fact that HarmonyOS is an open-source operating system. What does that mean? That other companies could adopt it on their smartphones without having to pay any commission to Huawei. This feature could encourage the development of ad hoc applications for HarmonyOS. Huawei, in fact, is investing a lot on AppGallery, the online store that will replace Google’s PlayStore.
It’s still early to make assessments about the future of the new operating system and possible changes for Huawei smartphones: users, however, don’t have to worry, in any case they will have on their devices a working and stable OS.