Huawei Launches ‘Harmony Operating System’ to Rival Google’s Android

Huawei, the second-largest smartphone manufacturer in the world has launched ‘HarmonyOS’ its much-anticipated operating system that is sure to rival Google-owned Android OS.

Richard Yu, the head of Huawei’s consumer business, said that the new system, called HarmonyOS or HongMeng in Chinese, would “bring more harmony and convenience to the world”.

The software is considered crucial for the tech group’s survival as it confronts a looming White House ban on US companies selling technology products to Huawei and this could remove its access to Google’s Android operating system.

And finally from Richard Yu: #HarmonyOS will officially be OPEN SOURCE #HDC2019 pic.twitter.com/KK8NGNS0Py

— Huawei Mobile (@HuaweiMobile) August 9, 2019

Yu said the new system was a “future-oriented OS” to be “more smooth and secure”, which he said was “completely different from Android and iOS”.

Huawei said the first version of the operating system would launch later this year in its smart screen products while over the next three years, it will be developed across a range of smart devices including wearable technology. The operating system will be released as an open-source platform worldwide to encourage adoption.

Huawei was prompted to go through the route of developing its own Operating System after it was caught in a trade war between Beijing and Washington. It registered the trademark ‘Harmony’ in Europe on the 12th of July 2019

In fact, the Trump-led US administration blacklisted Huawei amid suspicions that it provides a backdoor for Chinese intelligence services something the firm denies.

Huawei says it will continue to use Android moving forward, but HarmonyOS is officially its back-up plan if things go south. “We will prioritize Android for smartphones, but if we can’t use Android, we will be able to install HarmonyOS quickly,” Yu said.