Huawei Bets on a Fresh OS — but Still Loves Android For Now
Whoever said you can’t have your cake and eat it too probably never seen Huawei’s latest move. On Friday, the Chinese tech giant rolled out its own operating system for phones, watches, speakers, and even VR gear, all while refusing to ditch the good old Android that users already know and love.
Why Swap? What’s Cooking?
- US sanctions are tightening. The May ban could snatch Huawei’s access to American tech like Android.
- Huawei wants to do it all in-house — chips, software, the whole shebang.
- President Trump’s warning about espionage means companies can’t just buy from Huawei without a special license.
Samsung’s “phase‑out” approach? No. Huawei’s strategy is “Keep the Android you know, but slowly add our own OS to the pot.” So right now, smartphones stay Android; the new OS will sprout on smartwatches, speakers, and VR headsets.
Harmony OS: One, Different, Almighty
Richard Yu from Huawei’s consumer arm says, “Our Harmony OS feels like a fresh haircut compared to Android and iOS.” At a devs’ meet in Dongguan (beautiful new campus that looks like a European town), he told the crowd:
“Develop your app once, then effortlessly drop it across any device—phones, watches, even the home assistant.”
The Spin‑Off
Telegraphy tip: A fresh tweet last week teases that Harmony is a “complete playground” different from the two giants. Even amidst speculation on how fast it will roll out, Huawei remains a smirk‑tight mystery.
What the Marketplace Says
- It’s a race to stay shut in the U.S. market (unless a trade deal is found).
- Two paths: keep Android and rely on U.S. tech; or hop to Harmony ASAP.
- Huawei balances that gamble, ensuring it can still make phones without getting pulled out.
So, the official cheer: “No current plans to ditch Android,” says Yu. Huawei’s play‑book: stay angular, stay creative, and avoid stepping over the regulators’ cross‑hair—unless a trade deal says otherwise. Whether Harmony can catch up is a story still in the making.
Attracting developers
Huawei’s Quest for a Software Kingdom
It’s not just Huawei that’s itching to build a self‑contained ecosystem. Samsung’s Tizen is already in watches and TVs, but the Korean giant has struggled to lure developers when trying to make Tizen a smartphone hero.
At the recent conference, investor Marko Yang took a page out of the Chinese playbook. “The sheer size of the country means user demands are massive,” he said. “Answering those needs creates a flurry of apps, which then spin out into a guts‑of‑the‑action ecosystem that eventually drags in the global market.”
Huawei’s Developer Dream
- Huawei boasts over 800,000 developers in its ecosystem, a figure that’s as big as the country itself.
- To win hearts, the company is willing to lower its app‑store fee to 10‑15%—a generous slice compared to Apple’s and Google’s standard 30%.
- President Zhang Ping’an is rolling out a $1 billion program aimed at supporting developers, with a whopping 80% earmarked for overseas projects over the next five years.
New Horizon: The Smart Screen
On Saturday, Huawei will drop its first “smart screen” (think TV‑style, but slick and connected), powered by its own Harmony OS—known in China as Hongmeng. The company plans to push Harmony into a variety of devices by 2022, promising a more open‑source, safer, and efficient alternative to the big players.
With the Chinese market as a launchpad, Huawei hopes to spark a wave that will obviously ripple across the globe—right before the next coffee break or lunchtime meme.
Not an Android Rival
Huawei’s Harmony Project: A Whisper‑Tech Saga
Picture this: over 4,000 developers have been hunched over keyboards, scratching on a project called Harmony. Sounds like a secret band, right? Well, it’s a secret enterprise, but a big one.
What’s Harmony, Anyway?
Some buzz from the inside says Harmony isn’t here to play “Android Face‑Off.” Instead, it’s morphing into something akin to Google’s Fuchsia—an open‑source OS that could morph from your everyday phone into the brains behind your smart fridge, toaster, or that floating robot you’ve never seen.
Yu’s Speech: A Stadium‑Wide Soap Opera
- A venue that could’ve sold out at 50,000 seats (yes, a basketball stadium).
- VIP tickets that screamed 4,298 yuan (around $608.90).
- Keynote spotlight: Fuchsia, Harmony, and a hint that “Yours truly” may be on the same page.
Big‑Picture Challenges
Yu is not going to sugarcoat it: the U.S. bans set in May have got the plans to become the top phone shipper upside‑down. However, he’s sanguine: the “No.2” spot is still a safe haven.
- Projected 300 million shipments for the year—no restrictions.
- Reality check: 118 million units have already left the factory in the first half, which, while not the dream figure, still has a big score.
Bottom Line
Huawei’s Harmony is a modern technological “Theatre: it’s building the future theater where AI and appliances dance together. Whether it’ll take the throne now is a bigger question, but Harmony’s there, and everyone’s watching.
