Huawei found itself at the center of tensions between China and the United States, which affected the brand’s sales and the user experience of its products. Since the measures taken by the Trump government in 2019, the Chinese manufacturer can no longer integrate American technologies into its products, and more particularly into its smartphones, which no longer have the right to use Google services (GMS). However, after a few manipulations accessible to the most novice, HarmonyOS, the Huawei operating system at work on the brand’s smartphones in China, could until now accommodate Android applications via their download in APK format.
This will soon no longer be the case. Indeed, during its conference dedicated to developers organized last August, Huawei announced a new version of its system, called HarmonyOS Next, which is about to land on its future smartphones. This will completely free itself from Android, which implies the impossibility of downloading APKs in favor of a different format called HAP. In a user test shared a few weeks ago on Chinese social network Weibo, APK files could not be opened at all, although the overall design of the interface was still largely inspired by Android.
Huawei therefore has full confidence in its project, even if it means further distancing itself from the European market. A desire to establish itself and regain its glory which pushes many large Chinese companies to equip themselves and recruit developers capable of working with HarmonyOS tools. This is what the Hong Kong daily says South China Morning Post, who spotted a job offer published by the site Meituan.com. Chinese Deliveroo is actively looking for engineers “having experience with HarmonyOS” for a rather attractive salary, which can go up to €7,500 per month. The video game giant NetEase and the e-commerce site JD.com are also recruiting developers to adapt their apps to Huawei’s operating system.
There is therefore a lot of excitement on the side of the Middle Kingdom, and we will carefully follow Huawei in its quest for autonomy. The first beta of HarmonyOS Next will be available at the beginning of 2024. An additional demonstration of force for the Chinese giant which, already this summer, unveiled a Mate 60 Pro equipped with an in-house chip capable of standing up to current high-end 5G smartphones.