Huawei introduces HarmonyOS, its cross platform alternative operating system

Huawei just officially introduced its HarmonyOS at the annual Huawei Developers Conference in Dongguan, China. According to CEO Richard Yu who led the keynote, the new operating system has been in development since 2017 and the first product running it will be unveiled tomorrow by sub-brand Honor.

Huawei’s goal with the new OS is to provide an open-source platform capable of running on a broad range of devices ranging from smartphones to smart wearables, TVs, tablets, laptops and even cars.

A modularized #HarmonyOS can be nested to adapt flexibly to any device to create a seamless cross-device experience. Developed via the distributed capability kit, it builds the foundation of a shared developer ecosystem #HDC2019 pic.twitter.com/2TD9cgtdG8

— Huawei Mobile (@HuaweiMobile) August 9, 2019

HarmonyOS is a microkernel-based operating system which means it will use as few resources as possible, ensuring fast operating speeds and minimum latency levels. It’s open-source and comes with a TEE (Trusted Execution Environment) for improved security across all devices. The Arc compiler in Harmony OS supports all the major programming languages including C/, C++, Java, JavaScript and Kotlin.

#HarmonyOS is built with a deterministic latency engine that gives a smooth interactive experience. That means latency is at a minimum; bringing fluid interactive experience to the maximum #HDC2019 pic.twitter.com/p9bnwNHJq6

— Huawei Mobile (@HuaweiMobile) August 9, 2019

During the keynote, Richard Yu claimed that HarmonyOS can theoretically replace Android but for now the company will stick to Google's software on its smartphones for the sake of users and Google’s extensive app portfolio.

Yet, if more complications arise Yu claims the users will be able to migrate to the new OS in a matter of days. In terms of app support, Harmony OS will eventually support all Android apps as well as HTML5 and Linux based ones.

The goal of HarmonyOS is to take on Android and become a “global operating system” in the future. Huawei will provide dev kits to its partners to immediately begin developing compatible apps and speed up the process of integration for the new operating system. We expect more details on Huawei’s new OS in the coming days so stay tuned.