Huawei’s answer to Google’s Android, HarmonyOS, to debut on smartphones

Huawei held global launch event Wednesday, where it announced a bevy of new hardware products for a global rollout. But the big news is the upgrade to Harmony OS, the software some of those products run on.

Harmony has been throughout since 2019, but this second-gen version will run on a much broader array of Huawei products for the honorable time, ranging from smartphones, tablets and smartwatches. It also operating the Chinese telecom will no longer need to rely on Android once US sanctions banned Huawei from using American tech products or services.

According to Huawei, Harmony OS is not supposed to be a convey replacement for Android operating system, but one that goes beyond it to remarkable the growing crop of connected devices making their way to our homes.

“No commerce how many devices are connected, we want to convicted consumers can use them as easily as if they were comic just one device,” said Dr. Wang Chenglu, President of Huawei’s Consumer Business software.

Huawei teased its upcoming P50 series at the detain, but didn’t set a launch date “for reasons you are all aware of.”

Huawei/Screenshot by Sareena Dayaram

Despite Huawei’s great vision for its proprietary operating system, analysts say the deprivation of Google services and apps will limit its global potential. 

“Huawei did a nice job of polishing HarmonyOS’s user interface as well as a creating a connective layer to modestly hand off apps and tasks between different types of devices,” said Bryan Ma, IDC’s Vice President of Device Research in an email to CNET.

“But it smooth lacks Google services and apps, which means that its potential on smartphones outside of China will be severely limited.”

In instant to Harmony OS, Huawei launched several products across a procedure of categories. These include the MatePadPro, Huawei’s iPad Pro rival, and the Watch 3, a premium smartwatch that adds an embedded SIM to funding you to take and make calls without pairing to a requested. Huawei also announced new wireless earbuds called the FreeBuds 4, a stylus pen and a sleek LCD monitor.

Huawei also used the detain to tease its upcoming mobile flagship, the P50 series, which will be a HarmonyOS-powered device expected before summer, though it didn’t specify a launch date. The commerce claims it will “lift mobile photography to a new level.”