Huawei announces HarmonyOS NEXT, removing its last ties to Android

Huawei has announced the next version of its in-house operating system, HarmonyOS NEXT, at an event in China today. This version, which will roll out to its devices in China first, is the first version of the OS which removes all traces of Android from its DNA following the US sanctions that were placed on the company starting in 2019.

The OS uses Huawei's own microkernel, which is based on the OpenHarmony open-source codes and support applications via both the Huawei Ark compiler and Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) which means that it should be compatible with all of Huawei's existing devices such as smartwatches, tablets, and many more.

Huawei has primarily been trading in China ever since the company was placed on the U.S. "Entity List" in May 2019 by then president Donald Trump, which restricts it from doing business with any organisation that operates in the United States. At the time, Huawei was selling and supporting devices that were running Android and Google services, and this meant that a lot of those ceased to function, and led to a collapse of business in the region.

The headline features of the new OS that Huawei is advertising on its announcement page include the inclusion of its own AI assistant Xiaoyi, which can be summoned through voice or the navigation bar on device. It also includes a feature similar to Apple's NameDrop, and Unified control between supported Huawei devices, among other features.

The first beta of the new OS is now available publically for the Huawei Pura 70 series, Huawei Pocket 2, and Huawei MatePad Pro 11 (2024). Huawei has stated that the new OS will be coming to global markets as well, however this was not mentioned during the event and there is no timeline currently confirmed for the international rollout.