In a surprising turn of events, Huawei has announced that its supposed Android operating system replacement HongMeng OS is in fact not an Android replacement.
Huawei first announced its in-house mobile operating system when U.S. president Donald Trump banned companiesfrom working with Huawei.
One of the major companies was Google. That would mean Huawei would not have access to Android updates and Google Services would not work on its devices.
But Huawei was prepared for the ban and announced at the time, what would be its 'Android operating system replacement' HongMeng OS.
Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei even claimed it's 60% fasterthan Android and MacOS. But there was no actually footage or images of the operating system running on any device.
Huawei Vice president Andrew Williamson said, "Huawei is in the process of potentially launching a replacement. It’s not something Huawei wants. We’re very happy of being part of the Android family, but Hongmeng is being tested, mostly in China."
However, the company recently published a trademark for a new mobile operating system called 'Harmony' but they did not share any other information on it.
At the same time, Huawei executive Liang Hua said, "The Hongmeng OS is primarily developed for IoT devices that will reduce latency… In terms of smartphones, we are still using the Android operating system and ecosystem as a “first choice.”
"We haven’t decided yet if the Hongmeng OS can be developed as a smartphone operating system in the future."
Which seems rather odd as the company was flexing on how HongMeng OS, and not Harmony, was going to power its smartphones.
Don't worry, we're as confused as you are on what Huawei is doing. But there could be an explanation for this.
Because the ban on Huawei was lifted, it sees no point in developing an Android alternative as it has been working perfectly well on its devices for a long time now.
Retooling HongMeng OS for IoT to support its devices could be a solution to strengthen its ecosystem. Thus the name, 'Harmony'.
Again, this is all guesswork, so let's wait and see what Huawei has to say about all of this.
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