Due to the 2019 trade ban that cut Huawei off from Google apps, Huawei’s relationship with Android has been tough. Huawei seems to be preparing to give up on Android with a new HarmonyOS version.
Huawei started working on their own operating system called HarmonyOS after they lost access to Android apps. The first version of HarmonyOS looked a lot like Android but it allowed Huawei phones to still use most Android apps.
Now Huawei has announced the next version of HarmonyOS called “HarmonyOS Next.” Reports say this new version will be very different and will not support Android apps at all. When Huawei showed off HarmonyOS Next earlier this year, people found they could not open any app files like on Android. The user interface still looked similar to Android but the apps did not work.
Why is Huawei making such big changes now? Experts say it is because major Chinese tech companies are looking to hire developers who can make apps just for HarmonyOS. Reports also mention Huawei will release a test version of HarmonyOS Next in early 2024 for developers. This hints that HarmonyOS Next will be the main operating system Huawei uses, without any Android app compatibility.
It seems Huawei really wants to break free of relying on Android. While earlier versions of HarmonyOS still used some Android parts, HarmonyOS Next might not have anything to do with the Android operating system at all. Only time will tell exactly how different it is when we can try out HarmonyOS Next next year. Losing access to the huge library of Android apps will be a big challenge for Huawei, but they are determined to go their own way.
