Huawei seems to be all set to load its Harmony OS into products soon. The company plans to launch several devices powered by the in-house OS next year. It’ll release several smartwatches, speakers, virtual reality gadgets, and smart TVs loaded with Harmony OS in 2020. These products will not be limited to China but will be made available globally.
Huawei unveiled the Harmony OS in August as a possible alternative to Android, following the US sanctions. The Chinese phone maker is currently banned from doing business with US companies, a ruling which limits its access to the most popular mobile platform.
However, the company has no plans to extend Harmony OS to smartphones, tablets, and computers just yet. According to Shenzhen Special Zone Daily newspaper, which cited comments made by Wang Chenglu, president of the Huawei consumer business group’s software division, the company still prefers Android OS on its more popular product lineups. It likely wants to continue using Android because it’s more appealing to customers.
Despite the US trade ban, Huawei has not seen any significant drop in its smartphone demands. Pushed by a sense of pride and patriotism, people in China are switching to Huawei phones more than ever, so much so that the company shipped seven million units of the Mate 30 series in just 60 days.
Wang made the comments during the opening of a flagship Huawei store in Shenzhen, the company’s home city. Harmony OS will be made open source in August next year, Wang confirmed. Huawei is teaming up with several local companies to set up China’s own open-source software foundation amid concerns that the country could be denied access to Microsoft’s GitHub. GitHub has recently been restricted to users in Iran, Syria, and Crimea to comply with US sanctions.
HONOR Vision among the devices to get the Harmony OS first
HONOR, the Huawei sub-brand, announced the HONOR Vision, a 4K smart TV, at the Huawei Developer Conference in August. It is among the first set of devices to equip the company’s Harmony OS. The HONOR Vision features a 55-inch 4K display and comes with a bezel-less Full-View design. HONOR claims a 94-percent screen-to-body ratio on this smart TV.
In addition to several next-gen technologies, such as High Dynamic Range (HDR) and noise reduction, the HONOR Vision also features a pop-up camera which adds posture tracking to the mix. It comes in 2GB+16GB and 2GB+32GB storage variants priced at RMB 3,799 (~$540) and RMB 4,799 (~$682), respectively.