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Huawei launches HarmonyOS 2 for smartphones

Abstract : Chinese telecom giant Huawei on Wednesday officially launched its operating system HarmonyOS 2 for smartphones, providing customers worldwide with a competitive alternative that works on a diverse range of devices.

Screenshot
taken on June 2, 2021 shows the online launch ceremony of Huawei’s
operating system HarmonyOS 2 for smartphones in Shenzhen, south China’s
Guangdong Province. (Xinhua/Li Sijia)

— Chinese telecom giant Huawei on Wednesday officially launched its operating system HarmonyOS 2 for smartphones.

—
As a next-generation operating system for smart devices, HarmonyOS
provides a common language for different kinds of devices to connect and
collaborate, providing users with a more convenient, smooth, and secure
experience.

— Huawei expects the number of devices equipped with HarmonyOS to reach 300 million by the end of 2021.

SHENZHEN,
June 2 (Xinhua) — Chinese telecom giant Huawei on Wednesday officially
launched its operating system HarmonyOS 2 for smartphones, providing
customers worldwide with a competitive alternative that works on a
diverse range of devices.

HarmonyOS,
or Hongmeng in Chinese, is an open-source operating system designed for
various devices and scenarios. It first launched on Internet-of-Things
(IoT) devices, including wearables and tablets, in August 2019.

Huawei
expects the number of devices equipped with HarmonyOS to reach 300
million by the end of 2021, including more than 200 million for Huawei
devices.

“We
are surrounded by more and more smart devices these days, and are now
in a world where all things are connected,” said Richard Yu, CEO of
Huawei’s Consumer Business Group. “Every single one of us is a part of
this fully connected world, as is every device.”

“We look forward to working with more partners and developers to build a thriving HarmonyOS ecosystem,” he said.

As
a next-generation operating system for smart devices, HarmonyOS
provides a common language for different kinds of devices to connect and
collaborate, providing users with a more convenient, smooth, and secure
experience, according to Huawei.

Analysts
believe that the new operating system, featuring adaptability and
openness, will give an impetus to the global smart-device market and
offer billions of mobile terminal users worldwide more diversified
choices.

The
operating system launches at a time when the United States continues to
restrict Huawei from accessing key American technologies and products
in an attempt to lock the company out of the global 5G market.

In
the first quarter of 2021, Huawei recorded a sales revenue of 152.2
billion yuan (about 23.8 billion U.S. dollars), down by 16.5 percent
year on year. A U.S. crackdown against the company was widely blamed for
the decline.

Zhao
Xiaogang, an associate professor with the school of computer science at
Wuhan University, called HarmonyOS a “mega-terminal” that enables more
streamlined and efficient cross-device connectivity.

“HarmonyOS
greatly enhances the interactive speed between devices and improves the
efficiency of their computing power, thus providing customers with a
more optimized cross-device user experience,” said Zhao. He has been
tracking the development of the operating system for years.

Image
provided by Huawei on June 2, 2021 shows the online launch ceremony of
its operating system HarmonyOS 2 for smartphones in Shenzhen, south
China’s Guangdong Province. (Huawei/Handout via Xinhua)

Industry
insiders say the success of the system hinges largely on whether it can
attract, within a short window of time, enough hardware and software
developers to embrace the ecosystem by HarmonyOS.

For
Wang Chenglu, president of the software department of Huawei’s Consumer
Business Group, the short-term market share goal for HarmonyOS’s
ecosystem is 16 percent.

“Sixteen
percent is a threshold for an operating system’s ecosystem to develop
prosperously. It is a threshold that Huawei must pass,” Wang said.

Chinese
industries, including home appliances, sports and fitness, travel,
entertainment, and education, have welcomed the launch of HarmonyOS.

In
May, Midea Group, a leading Chinese home appliances maker, announced
that it would roll out some 200 new products running on HarmonyOS by the
end of this year.

Originally
conceived as a system for IoT devices, the application of HarmonyOS on
smartphones was almost an afterthought for Huawei.

The
idea of developing an operating system was first proposed in 2012 by
Wang, who was then working at Huawei’s software institute. It was
floated as a technical solution to catalyze the company’s
software-developing potential.

With
the fast growth of Huawei’s customer business, the project gained
increasing internal support, and the first version of the operating
system was developed in May 2017.

After
the U.S. adopted a string of restrictive measures on Huawei in 2019,
citing national security concerns, the project took on more urgency. In
August 2019, Huawei launched HarmonyOS on IoT devices.

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Source: Huawei launches HarmonyOS 2 for smartphones

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