I think if you know Huawei, you probably heard about the problems she faced because of the US sanctions. The Americans accused the Chinese company of a threat to national security and prohibited it from cooperating with local enterprises, regardless of the line of business. As a result, Huawei it lost the ability to produce its own processors, obtain the source code of security updates for its smartphones in advance and install Google services on them. It is logical that the total blockade could either destroy Huawei, or give it an impetus to rise with renewed vigor. So far, everything is going according to the second scenario.
Harmony OS is almost ready to launch
Harmony OS for smartphones, which Huawei has been preparing for launch for over a year, has already approached the development level by 70-80% Android. This was announced by Yu Chengdong, head of the company's consumer sector. According to him, Huawei is preparing for the worst scenarios of the conflict with the United States, and therefore prefers to develop the operating system in secret. Despite the fact that recently the Chinese quite often talk about Harmony OS, no one has ever seen a smartphone running the operating system.
Harmony OS from Huawei
Huawei claims Harmony OS is 80% closer to Android in terms of development
Huawei prefers not to rush, but to think over and work out all possible mechanisms and functions of Harmony OS as carefully as possible. This is necessary in order to be able to launch your own platform on all smartphones that are currently running on Android. Given the ever-growing tensions between China and the United States, it is highly likely that the Americans will continue to vent their anger on Huawei, only increasing the blockade. It's good that the Chinese have already worked out the scenario for the distribution of Harmony OS, which, according to their calculations, will take no more than two days.
Earlier, Chengdong said that Harmony OS is ready, but Huawei is not launching it due to some agreements with Google. Despite the fact that the top manager of the Chinese company did not particularly dwell on what these agreements were, it was obvious to us in Android Insider.ru from the very beginning that this was a kind of non-aggression pact. Most likely, the parties agreed that Google, despite the sanctions, does not block its services on old smartphones Huawei, and Huawei does not start testing Harmony OS. After all, if the Chinese carry out the necessary tests, they will be able to transfer their devices to the new platform at any time, depriving Google of a fair share of its income.
When is Harmony OS coming out?
Huawei must present Harmony OS 2.0 at Huawei Developer Conference
'Harmony OS for mobile is ready, but we are not launching it due to an agreement with Google. After all, we have old mobile phones, and therefore we have to wait, 'said Chengdong.
On the one hand, the statement about readiness and 80% result compared to Android is a clear contradiction. But, on the other hand, in fact, in his statement, Chengdong did not specify exactly what Harmony OS is ready for. Therefore, I would suggest assuming that he meant willingness to test. After all, without an open beta test, launching an operating system would be at least reckless.
However, it will most likely not pull the rubber endlessly Huawei. Therefore, it is highly likely that already at the conference Huawei Developer Conference, which will be held from September 10 to 12, the Chinese will still present Harmony OS 2.0. Its main innovation will be just support for smartphones and, obviously, smart watches. But if the watch, according to rumors, goes on sale, almost immediately, then the smartphone will have to wait. Given that the operating system for smartphones is not yet fully ready, it is likely that even closed tests will not begin until the end of this – the beginning of next year.