As a result of the US executive order from back in May, Huawei has been in the news with its own alternative OS to Google’s Android. A number of names for the OS have been thrown around, from HongMeng to Harmony. And it looks like the company is ready to make it official. At the Huawei Developer Conference, the Chinese tech giant revealed the HarmonyOS.
Richard Yu, Huawei’s head of Consumer Business Group, said that HarmonyOS is ready for smartphones, but it won’t be used just yet. For now, HarmonyOS will remain on standby as the company’s backup mobile OS for when it loses Android.
HarmonyOS has just been announced at #HDC2019! How are we going to build an all-scenario smart ecosystem and experience? How will we overcome the challenges of future OS for connected things? Stayed tuned with us to find out. pic.twitter.com/x7ZbgcEy2d
— Huawei Mobile (@HuaweiMobile) August 9, 2019
Should the worse come to worst though, he says that migrating from Android to HarmonyOS will only take a few days. The latter will also support a wide range of app languages, including Android, Linux and HTML5. It will also be open source, allowing developers to modify it as they need to for their own hardware.
While it won’t be showing up on phones just yet, the company has already planned to use it elsewhere. CNET reports that Huawei will first use the HarmonyOS for smart TVs and other “smart screen” devices. Beyond that, you could also be seeing it on car infotainment systems and wearables as well.
(Source: CNET)
