Huawei To Release Its First HarmonyOS-Powered Phone In 2021
Huawei’s ambitious multi-platform HarmonyOS has been under development for a while. 2021 will likely be the year we see the first HarmonyOS-powered smartphone.
A report from My Fix Guide cites Richard Yu, CEO Huawei Technologies Consumer Business Group, confirming the release. Huawei’s in-house operating system is long rumored to replace Android OS from its smartphones.
As of now, HarmonyOS runs on Huawei’s Vision TV under the name HongmengOS. In 2019, the company said that its OS will be competing with iOS in the next two years. Huawei is likely to use its OS on the upcoming Honor smartphones, which won’t get Android.
It is most likely that HarmonyOS 2.0, which will run on more devices, will be announced on September 10, 2020, at the Huawei Developer’s Conference (HDC).
In another report, Huawei has claimed that its operating system can reach up to 70 to 80% of Android’s level but the company is working to improve it further. While it’s banned from using Google Mobile Services (GMS), the company has come up with its own Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) and AppGallery (Huawei’s replacement for the Play Store).
What is HarmonyOS?
After last year’s US ban on Huawei, the company can no longer use Google services on its smartphones. This is where HarmonyOS steps in. It is not only a replacement for Android on phones but also capable of running on wearables, televisions, automobiles, and even its PCs.
What makes Huawei’s OS capable of running on multiple platforms is the same thing that differentiates it from Android. At its core, Huawei’s OS is based on a custom home-baked microkernel, which makes it convenient to run the OS on a range of devices. You can read the comparison between Android and HarmonyOS here.
