Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.is a Chinese multinational technology company. It designs, develops, and sells telecommunications equipment and consumer electronics. Recently, Chinese telecom company confirmed that it will formally launch its new operating system HarmonyOS for smartphones on June 2. Aided by China’s vast consumer market, a favorable testing environment and rapid deployment of 5G networks, it might be an opportunity for the Chinese tech giant to build HarmonyOS into the world’s third-largest mobile ecosystem, after Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android.
HarmonyOS, Hongmeng in Chinese, is an operating system designed for various devices and settings. It was first launched on Internet-of-Things devices. The HarmonyOS has already been used on Huawei watches, laptops and home appliances over the past two years. There are possibilities for Huawei to overtake the industry giants with the arrival of 5G and ultrafast internet. Apple and Google are also endeavoring to upgrade their OS and adapt to the new era. Over the medium term, the operating system plays a decisive role whether Huawei can build an AI plus Internet of Things (AIoT) ecosystem involving cars, human beings and the surroundings. Apart from leveraging Huawei to compete with international mobile ecosystem giants, the HarmonyOS is also of strategic importance for Huawei’s goals in the car industry. It will also have its own app store that would host apps specially designed for the OS. Android apps won’t be readily compatible with HarmonyOS.
Huawei expects the number of devices equipped with HarmonyOS to reach 300 million by the end of 2021, including more than 200 million Huawei devices. Huawei aims to enable original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of cars to build better vehicles based on Huawei ICT, becoming a provider of digital car-oriented components. Huawei was world’s biggest smart phone maker, now it is ranked 6th globally with a 4% market share in the first quarter. The use of its own operating system will mean it will no longer be reliant on Android. U.S. sanctions banned Google from providing technical support to new Huawei phone models and access to Google Mobile Services, the bundle of developer services upon which most Android apps are based. Huawei plans to hold livestream event fot the launch of HarmonyOS.
