Huawei to roll out home-grown mobile operating system in challenge to Apple’s iOS, Android
HarmonyOS Next, which Huawei touts as being entirely independently developed, no longer supports Android-based applications
Huawei Technologies is set to debut its highly anticipated home-grown mobile operating system HarmonyOS Next on Tuesday, touting it as an alternative to Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android, as the telecommunications equipment giant rallies domestic tech firms to build a Chinese mobile ecosystem amid US sanctions.
From Tuesday, HarmonyOS Next will be publicly available on Huawei’s Mate 60 series, the Mate X5 foldable smartphone and its 13.2 inch tablet MatePad Pro.
HarmonyOS Next, which Huawei touts as being entirely independently developed, no longer supports Android-based applications and has been dubbed “pure blood” HarmonyOS in China.
The new mobile platform, which was made available for developers in China in January this year, is “a new life striving to grow”, said Richard Yu Chengdong, chairman of Huawei’s consumer business group, at a company event in Shanghai last month.
“We covered the path of over a decade of foreign operating system ecosystem development in just one year,” Yu added.
Ahead of the launch, Huawei mobilised China’s app developers to support the operating system in what it called an “oath-taking ceremony” last month, according to a September 26 blog post on Huawei’s website.
