In 2019, Huawei’s smartphone business was hit hard. The United States government added the company to what it called the “Entity List,” which prevented the Chinese manufacturer from doing business with US-based organizations. That affected the company’s semiconductor sourcing and ties with Google.
Now, in an effort to break away from anything US-owned even more drastically, Huawei is planning to launch HarmonyOS Next, a completely new mobile operating system, later this month. The question is, after such strong roots have been set for Android and iOS, can another mobile OS thrive?
HarmonyOS Next Is Huawei Completely Severing Its Dependence On The US-Based Google
The Android Open Source Project is, well, open source. That means that Huawei could keep building Android-based operating systems, but sanctions against them still meant they couldn’t get direct access to Google services. That meant no native apps for the Play Store, YouTube, Gmail, or even Google Maps. You could use them via their browser versions, but if you’ve ever tried that, you know that’s hardly a smooth experience.
Huawei had its HarmonyOS, which was built on top of AOSP like other manufacturers’ takes on Android. However, it seems Huawei has chosen to completely cut off any dependence it might have on anything remotely related to US-based companies. That’s why it has been developing HarmonyOS Next, a completely new operating system. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen that in the smartphone space.
It’s now official that HarmonyOS Next is going to be launching on October 22nd. Unfortunately, the event is going to be entirely in Chinese, but we’ll be on the lookout for translations.
The Question Is, Can A New Operating System Survive In This Day And Age?
Whether you are interested in Huawei devices or not, you have to say that this is a pretty exciting moment. There are very few manufacturers that can get away with attempting to make their own operating systems this deep into the smartphone game, and Huawei is certainly one of them.
However, I really wonder whether HarmonyOS Next can actually survive in a day and age where the current options are so firmly embedded in the market. It’s not like scrappy upstarts haven’t shifted the tide before. There was a time when Symbian was extremely popular. MySpace was once the most popular social network in the world. Never say never, but Huawei has a monumental task ahead of them.
But, I don’t think the company’s goal right now is world domination. Instead, it might want to get a very solid foothold in China, and considering how popular its excellent devices are among its population of 1.4 billion people, they might be willing to get used to it. I think Huawei can do it, but whether a global audience will be ready to switch over might be the big question.
Huawei Is Working Actively To Get Apps Supported For HarmonyOS Next
Huawei has partnered with the companies behind several major apps to support their efforts to get their software ready for HarmonyOS Next. Right now, there are over 10,000 apps ready to go, which is certainly commendable.
The apps targeted are those used the most by the Chinese audience, which lends further credence to the fact that Huawei might be far from trying to expand its reach to other markets. That is, admittedly, the best approach.
Would you switch to a HarmonyOS Next smartphone if it came with support for all the apps you currently use? Let us know in the comments!
