Huawei plans to introduce its Harmony working program (OS), considered as its alternative to Google’s Android mobile working program, on smartphones upcoming calendar year, as it seeks to overcome curbs put on it by the US.
The business to start with unveiled its proprietary HarmonyOS last calendar year which it has billed as a multi-device platform throughout watches, laptops and mobiles, fairly than as a like-for-like challenger to Google’s Android mobile OS.
Analysts say it is the closest answer to a alternative that Huawei has, right after its addition to the US entity listing in May perhaps last calendar year, which barred Google from offering complex assist for new Huawei phone types applying Android, and from Google Cellular Services (GMS), the bundle of developer products and services upon which most Android apps are primarily based.
Huawei’s purchaser small business team CEO Richard Yu and Wang Chenglu, president of Huawei’s purchaser small business group’s software office gave an update on Thursday to the company’s annual developer meeting in the southern Chinese city of Dongguan.
“The milestone we’re marking is that we’re supporting Huawei units from Harmony OS two., but at the exact same time Harmony OS two. may perhaps also be available to other vendors’ units,” Wang mentioned. “Harmony OS two. will be available to all components suppliers.”
Yu additional that the business experienced also opened to developers a beta edition for good TVs, watches and motor vehicle infotainment systems from Thursday, and plans to make it available for smartphones in December.
US tension
Currently being slash off from Google’s Android assist led the business to expertise a slump in abroad smartphone revenue, although that was later on offset by a surge in domestic demand from customers.
Its option to GMS is Huawei Cellular Services (HMS), which Yu mentioned was now the world’s third largest mobile application ecosystem. Zhang Pingan, president of Huawei’s purchaser cloud division, mentioned abroad clients were being accepting of HMS and revenue of phones with HMS experienced “soared” considering the fact that May perhaps.
Yu mentioned the business transported 240 million smartphones last calendar year, which gave it a next-position industry position in 2019, but additional that software shortages experienced damage revenue in recent months and shipments fell to one hundred and five million units in the to start with-half.
In August, the US expanded earlier limitations aimed at preventing Huawei from acquiring semiconductors devoid of a special license. Analysts have mentioned that Huawei’s smartphone small business would vanish completely if it could not source chipsets.
“The growth of HarmonyOS and HMS is fascinating. Nonetheless, this growth will have to have components to produce to the buyers. So, the major problem is continue to coming from the chips offer disruption,” mentioned Will Wong, an analyst with consultancy IDC.