Huawei to Launch HarmonyOS June 2

Chinese telecom giant Huawei has been working on a new operating system for smartphones, an alternative to Android for a few years now, dubbed HarmonyOS. We’ve already seen a developer version hit China in recent months, but it looks like Huawei is ready to launch the new mobile platform.

HarmonyOS, or Hongmeng in Chinese, is an operating system designed for various devices and settings. It was first launched on Internet-of-Things devices. The HarmonyOS has already been used on Huawei watches, laptops, and home appliances over the past two years.

The Chinese manufacturer took to its HarmonyOS Weibo account to post a video confirming a June 2 2021 launch date at 8 PM GMT+8 (8 AM ET, 2PM CEST). It’s since posted a video to YouTube as well, suggesting that this is aimed at a wider market.

Early impressions of the developer preview have painted a mixed picture of HarmonyOS thus far, with Ars Technica previously reporting that the preview was literally Android 10 with EMUI and a few other tweaks on top of it. So we hope that was simply a prelude to the real deal rather than being an old platform masquerading as a new one.

Nevertheless, Huawei has promised that HarmonyOS will offer more seamless cross-device capabilities (e.g. using a TV and webcam for a video lesson and a tablet for supplementary material), an adaptive UI, and faster cross-device data transfers.

We won’t have long to wait to see a fully baked version of HarmonyOS on smart devices then, but hopefully the platform comes to wider markets in no time flat as well. Apart from leveraging Huawei to compete with international mobile ecosystem giants, the HarmonyOS is also of strategic importance for Huawei’s goals in the car industry.

Over the medium term, the operating system plays a decisive role whether Huawei can build an AI plus Internet of Things (AIoT) ecosystem involving cars, human beings and the surroundings, domestic financial media jrj.com reported, citing a Founder Securities report.

Huawei reiterated on Monday in a statement that it does not make cars, and will not invest in any carmaker. The company said what the industry needs is its information and communication technology (ICT) capability instead of Huawei-branded cars. Huawei aims to enable original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of cars to build better vehicles based on Huawei ICT, becoming a provider of digital car-oriented components.

Huawei expects the number of devices equipped with HarmonyOS to reach 300 million by the end of 2021, including more than 200 million Huawei devices, the Xinhua News Agency reported.