In mid-2019, Huawei had launched its own operating system known as HarmonyOS which rivals Google’s Android. This was due to the U.S government taking actions to cut off the supply of Google’s software to Huawei.
As of now, the Chinese tech giant has announced that HarmonyOS would be rolling out to its smartphones from April. HarmonyOS is said to be the company’s most ambitious software push enabling their flagship phones to compete with other major brands.
The company’s new foldable Mate X2 device will be the first to carry the HarmonyOS software and then other flagship Huawei devices will be upgraded to the same OS. The company is still facing numerous challenges due to the move made by the Trump administration to cut them off from critical chip supplies which have inevitably affected their sales as well.
With such boundaries in Huawei’s way, the company has been looking for new ways to develop new hardware and software without being dependent on other companies. According to Nicole Peng, an analyst at Canalys, the HarmonyOS is “critically important” to ensure Huawei’s survival.
According to Huawei, HarmonyOS is said to work across from smartphones to TVs and as of now currently, new applications are being developed for its new app store knows as ‘App Gallery’ which is said to have better navigation functions. The App Gallery has presently over 530 million monthly active users. Moreover, Huawei has a suite of apps such as mapping and browsers under a banner called Huawei Mobile Services (HMS). HMS is similar to Google Mobile Services which offers developers kits to integrate things into applications they develop. The HMS has registered 2.3 million developers globally.
However, the challenge of keeping up in the app world still remains for the company as Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store are considered as the dominant application stores known globally.
Currently, China is able to download HarmonyOS but will become globally available for all very soon.
