Huawei is preparing to revolutionize its IT ecosystem by replacing Windows with HarmonyOS. Scheduled for 2024, this new system, based on a micro-Core, will mark a complete break from Android. However, challenges remain, particularly in terms of applications and developer support, leaving the market in suspense.
Big if True: Huawei officially launched the first version of HarmonyOS in 2019, debuting it alongside the company’s Honor smart TVs. Now, the Chinese conglomerate is ready to take its ambitious plan for a completely independent operating system to the next level.
Huawei is almost ready to ditch Windows and adopt HarmonyOS as its primary PC operating system. According to Yu Chengdong, who heads the company’s consumer business group, the PCs Huawei currently sells will be the last to feature Microsoft’s “Western” system. The next batch of Huawei computers will feature HarmonyOS Next, the next iteration of that OS, which is scheduled to launch by the end of 2024.
HarmonyOS was originally developed from the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) and Core Linux, which allowed for a high level of compatibility between the new operating system and existing Android applications. The original distributed operating system is now being redesigned as HarmonyOS Next, a micro-Core-based system with no traces of AOSP code or residual compatibility with Android.
The operating system will exclusively support its own native app format, which, according to the project’s page, includes a mix of JavaScript (JS), TypeScript, and an optimized compiler designed to speed up the execution of JS code. Analysts estimate that Huawei accounts for about 10% of the 40 million PCs sold annually in China, with Lenovo and HP being the other major players in the local market.
Lenovo, the Beijing-based giant currently leading the global PC market, does not seem interested in replacing Windows with HarmonyOS (Next) in the near future. However, this could change in the future, as the US and other Western countries may decide to increase pressure on Chinese tech companies through new sanctions and trade restrictions.
Huawei has invested significant resources in HarmonyOS Next, but the new operating system may not be ready to replace Windows or even Android for end users. According to a recent statement, Huawei’s ambitious “declaration of independence” has produced very few gaming apps.
The operating system apparently lacks support from game developers, and the few apps available on the platform are either in demo form or lacking essential features. Developers are eager to deliver new “patriotic” code, but the user experience suffers, and consumers aren’t exactly thrilled with the end results.
Meanwhile, Chinese propaganda outlet Global Times (GT) portrays HarmonyOS as a product accepted by “many customers” already. GT claims that more than 10,000 apps and services are available on the platform, and high-profile customers, such as the Shanghai municipal government, are developing native HarmonyOS apps to provide administrative services.
