Huawei’s very own in-house operating system Harmony OS (also called HongMeng OS) took the stage a few months ago and it brought a lot of prospect to the smartphone world. How? We will take an in-depth look into the rise and the prospects of this operating system in this article.
First, what is Harmony OS? This is Huawei’s in-house operating system that was developed by Huawei as an interconnected operating system that encompasses not only mobile devices but also smart devices. By the help of this operating system devices can be connected to form super devices, now if that explanation was very complex then the best and most simplified explanation to this operating system can be found in this article here.
Harmony OS enables seamless interactions among a wide array of device forms, from smart watches and automobile head units to smart TVs and mobile phones. So the big plan of Huawei is to enable users of its Harmony OS to be able to operate or give commands to any device in their home or office by just starting off this command on one device as long as all devices involved run Huawei’s own operating system.
This operating system goes beyond just smartphone, smart TV’s and laptops it ranges into smart automobiles, smart home appliances and so much more. During the official launch Huawei held on June 2nd 2021 where it unveiled a few devices along with it’s own in-house operating system it was clear that Huawei was aiming at the new high for IoT and inter connected devices.
Will Harmony OS support other devices?
Well originally Huawei devices operated on the Android OS this was before the entire US sanctions, so Huawei devices had a similar feel and usability as other Android devices.
So will this change from Android to Harmony OS actually rip Huawei away from its former Android competition? Yes, this change will actually create a big difference between Huawei and the Android market.
Huawei has actually made it possible for other devices to run this operating system, since the Harmony OS is aiming at developing the interconnection of devices then multiple devices will have to run on Harmony OS, when we say multiple devices we are not only talking about phones and tablets.
Devices ranging from smart TV’s to smart fridges to microwaves to smart cars will all be able to run Harmony OS. At the launch of the Harmony OS a lot of companies in China where already looking out to run HongMeng OS on their devices. This is made possible because the codes of the operating system make it easy for devices with as low as 128 KB worth of space to run smoothly in the ecosystem.
All this is thanks to OpenHarmony which also makes it possible for Huawei’s operating system to run native Android applications. So with the prospect of these operating system there is definitely room for growth of the user community.
How far has Harmony OS come?
By recent reports Harmony OS has come a long way in only a matter of months since its launch back in June 2nd 2021. In less than a week of it being launched the operating system gathered over 10 million active users. It’s growth did not just stop there, in less than 4 months since its launch Harmony OS has amassed a whopping 90 million active users.
Most of the users gained into the ecosystem are likely users upgrading their Huawei and Honor devices from Android to HongMeng OS. Huawei officially announced support for older Huawei devices to upgrade to the new version of Harmony OS. So this growth is very understandable since Huawei was once a major player in the smartphone industry before the sanctions and restrictions.
Even here in Africa, Huawei is among the top 5 smartphone brands and is loved by so many people regardless of the fact the their devices do not have Google support (you can look at our article regarding the African smartphone market share here). For now Huawei has not started rolling out Harmony OS update for its Y series which is one of its more prevalent series here in Africa, but there is support for the Nova series.
How will Africa welcome this change? Will the Harmony OS be accepted here in Africa? What do you think? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.