No HarmonyOS for global Huawei users?

Since Huawei has confirmed EMUI 12 as the next major software update. This question is now clear and it’s sounding – is there no HarmonyOS for global users? Let’s find out a potential answer for this question while searching for some reasons.

On June 2, 2021, Huawei launched HarmonyOS 2.0 for smartphone devices. Initially, the testing remained limited to some models and kept enclosed for the Chinese consumers only. At the launch event, the company announced the HarmonyOS upgrade plan for over 100 models including devices that are too old – such as Mate 9 and P10.

Following the event, the phone maker then expanded the HarmonyOS rollout for more models including some popular – P30 and Mate 20 series. Yet the activity remained limited to the Chinese models.

Following a number of upgrades and continued expansion, this Huawei operating system has achieved millions of downloads and installation on the home ground. As of November 1, Huawei is nearly completing the upgrade plan that has been initiated during the launch event in June this year.

Current Progress:

As of October 22, 2021, Huawei Developer Conference (HDC) 2021, Huawei Consumer Business Group CEO Richard Yu announced that HarmonyOS has achieved over 150 million installations and the target will increase further by the end of this year. On the other hand, many industry partners have joined the HarmonyOS ecosystem including both hardware and software manufacturers.

Currently, Huawei supports various devices – Mobile, tablets, smartwatches, smart screens, IoT devices, smart car systems as well as business solutions. The addition of smartphones has been proved to be a major development and an advancement in the software upgrade world.

So far, Huawei has kept the HarmonyOS enclosed for the Chinese models and the company has not made any formal announcement regarding the launch on the global stage. Instead, EMUI 12 is next to rollout for the Huawei global consumers.

Why remained in China:

Even after the exclusion of Google Mobile Services (GMS), global Huawei phones still support Android apps, which is a major factor in terms of system stability and compatibility that is ensured by the Android-based EMUI. Meanwhile, the HarmonyOS app ecosystem is not mature for the global market.

Therefore, there is a big possibility that apps and games may bring incompatibility issues because of unknown app support. Although, HarmonyOS supports Android apps, but there may be a major concern that the corresponding apps may eventually fail to satisfy users until they are officially adapted for the HarmonyOS platform.

Major Performance Improvement:

Aside from applications, HarmonyOS brings major improvements in performance and user interface as compared to Android-based EMUI. So, the only issue remains with the app ecosystem, which the company may soon resolve with the help of the global developer community.

So, No Global HarmonyOS?

Not exactly, if Huawei is actually planning to upgrade global devices with HarmonyOS, then it’ll surely base it on the EMUI software system. This would make sense but our concern lies on the app compatibility part, which the Chinese tech maker may address sooner or later but one thing is for sure, that it won’t happen early.