This archive report was first published on 9 August 2019.
Huawei Unveils HarmonyOS: A New Operating System to Compete with Android ¶
On August 9, 2019, Huawei finally took the wraps off its long-rumored, first-party operating system, HarmonyOS, in Dongguan, China. The OS has been in development for several years and is primarily aimed at IoT products such as smart displays, wearables, smart speakers, and cars.
HarmonyOS is microkernel-based, similar to Google's in-development Fuchsia OS. This allows for flexible deployment on various devices, improving security in all scenarios. Developers will be able to use Huawei's ARK Compiler to compile code from multiple languages like C/C++, Java, and Kotlin for HarmonyOS.
HarmonyOS will not allow for root access, which Huawei says is a security risk on Android and other Linux-based operating systems. The company boasts an EAL 5+ certification level for the new OS. Huawei will be open-sourcing HarmonyOS in the future.
According to Yu, when Huawei can no longer access Google's Android ecosystem, it can deploy HarmonyOS 'at any time.' Until then, Huawei will continue to support Android.
Earlier this week, Chinese media reported that the company is set to release a phone based on HarmonyOS by the end of this year. This comes after Huawei was denied business in the US in May, following Google's ban on Huawei from using Android.
