Huawei was reportedly gearing up to launch phones with the new HarmonyOS in 2021. But it looks like the company could release them much sooner.
Huawei changing to the new HarmonyOS isn’t a matter of “if” but rather “when.” Ever since the Chinese tech company received trade sanctions from the United States and was dubbed “a national security threat,” the latest Huawei devices are unable to use Google and most especially the Android operating system.
Now, the Chinese company is allegedly speeding up the process of launching its own operating system. This is to avoid their devices from relying on Google.
HarmonyOS: The practical solution
News of Huawei developing a new operating system first blew up last year amid the U.S. sanctions. The company had officially unveiled the HarmonyOS in August 2019 during the company’s inaugural developers’ conference.
The company thus became the second company after Apple that manufactures its own hardware and software. Huawei developing a new OS comes at a critical time.
All of the company’s latest smartphones are just using an open-source version of Android. Because of this, their devices now lack the services that run Google Maps, YouTube, Gmail, and especially the Google Play Store.
While Huawei has already put in place alternatives for these services, developing their own OS would be the more practical solution.
What this means for the mobile industry
For a long time, Android and iOS have held a duopoly in the smartphone OS market. But the introduction of a new OS, and from a giant company like Huawei at that, would definitely shake the balance between smartphone operating systems.
The HarmonyOS is already running on several of Huawei’s products but is yet to make its appearance on a smartphone device.
In China, called the “biggest smartphone market in the world,” the HarmonyOS is sure to make a big impact.
This is because the U.S. apps that are popular in the west aren’t exactly essential in that region. But the lack of U.S. apps would definitely affect how Harmony OS performs and how people accept it in the west.
Possible December launch for the new OS
A recent report by Notebook Check suggests that Huawei could launch the new HarmonyOS by December. However, this launch is only limited to developers.
The report indicates that Huawei would be sending out smartphones containing the new OS to developers. The company hopes that doing so would entice them into making suitable apps.
Since the company wants around 200 million devices to have the HarmonyOS in its first year, sending it out early to the developers would seem like the right move.
Featured image courtesy of Omid Armin/Unsplash