Huawei has announced the second version of its HarmonyOS operating system and plans to expand it to a wide range of devices including smartphones. Consumer business CEO Richard Yu made the announcement today at Huawei’s Developers Conference in Shenzhen, China.
We have a device for everything we do.
HarmonyOS 2.0 harnesses technology to break through hardware boundaries and create an integrated experience. #HDC2020 pic.twitter.com/9qpRu35lWQ— Huawei Mobile (@HuaweiMobile) September 10, 2020
"The whole is greater than the sum of its parts" #HUAWEI believes in making strides with developers side by side, to improve user experiences. #HDC2020 pic.twitter.com/DSY6TiOFAt
— Huawei Mobile (@HuaweiMobile) September 10, 2020
Huawei will make the beta version of the HarmonyOS 2.0 SDK available to developers today, although it initially only supported smartwatches, car head units, and TVs. The smartphone version of the SDK will arrive in December 2020, and Yu indicated that HarmonyOS phones may appear next year.
Huawei is also closing its OpenHorny project, which allows developers to build on the open-source version of the OS – similar to AOSP Android. To date, the project only supports devices with 128 MB RAM or below, but it will expand to GB GB in April next year, and the memory limit will be completely removed by October 2021.
HarmonyOS is a strategically important project for Huawei, as it can play a major role in combating the ban on Chinese giants from doing business with US companies. Huawei currently has to ship Android-based phones without Google services, disrupting the app’s ecosystem and functionality for customers outside of China.
