Huawei set to bring HarmongOS to its smartphones in 2020

Beijing, Dec 9 (IANS) Chinese conglomerate Huawei’s President Wang Chenglu has revealed that the company is all set to bring its custom-made operating system ‘HarmonyOS’ to its smartphones range in 2020.

According to him, “HarmonyOS” that will be available globally will not replace Android as Huawei still treats Android as preferred OS by choice but things will start moving on this front next year, media rpeorts daid on Monday.

“If we’re still not allowed [by the US government] to access Google’s Android service, we will consider using our own HarmonyOS. In fact, our OS is ready, but we will not use it in the first place as we’re still considering a relevant decision and cooperation,” Chenglu was quoted as saying.

Under the terms of the previous US trade ban, Google was barred from selling Android license to Huawei, meaning its phones could use the base open-source code, but would not have access to the all-important Play Store and Google apps.

A temporary licence was issued which allows Google to support and update the Android OS currently running on existing Huawei devices. However, the trade ban has affected the development of future products.

The company has already launched “HarmonyOS” with Honor Vision TV series.

The company’s upcoming smartphone ‘P40’ may also run “HarmonyOS” instead of Android, revealed Richard Yu, Head of Huawei’s consumer business.