Yes, it’s finally happening. Huawei’s HarmonyOS NEXT is ditching its Android roots. As promised at the Huawei Developer Conference (HDC) 2023, the new version of the operating system is a fresh new software effort. Huawei officially launched HarmonyOS NEXT Beta at this year’s HDC 2024 conference.
Let’s go over some of the basics first. HarmonyOS NEXT is not based on Android nor is it strictly a Linux system. It is based on OpenHarmony and is a microkernel-based distributed core operating system for HarmonyOS. That is, HarmonyOS NEXT has the HarmonyOS microkernel. Only supports native app applications via Ark Compiler with core support from Huawei Mobile Services (HMS). That means that the operating system does not have native support for Android apps and APK files, as demonstrated in this post originating from Weibo.
Huawei’s Harmony OS Next is not compatible with Android APK files.
Finally, a worthy contender for both Android and iOS.
Source – Whylab (Weibo) https://t.co/foQF92Wizo pic.twitter.com/TSBAf4QaHs-Nithin Prasad (@_the_tech_guy) June 22, 2024
HarmonyOS NEXT still looks and feels like a familiar mobile operating system, as demonstrated by the UI video. However, that’s just the smartphone version and HarmonyOS NEXT will run on other devices as well. Still, under the hood, there is a completely new architecture that Huawei promises to improve overall performance efficiency by 30%. The connectivity speed is apparently tripled, resulting in faster connections between devices. Total power consumption has apparently been reduced by 20%, which is a lot. However, we’re not quite sure what Huawei compares to here for these numbers.
As for some notable features of HarmonyOS NEXT, the operating system promises a seamless unified architecture that combines on-premises and cloud installations. Interconnectivity is a big part of the experience. Users will be able to seamlessly share content or connect apps between devices without going through multiple steps or an installation process. HarmonyOS NEXT is also deeply infused with AI. There are native features like image generation, AI sound repair, and reading assistance for people with speech or vision impairments.
HarmonyOS NEXT also promises to be a multimedia powerhouse with support for Ark Multimedia Engine, Ark Graphics Engine, and FFRT. This latest technology apparently promises PC-level ray tracing for gaming.
For now, HarmonyOS NEXT Beta is a China-only experience. We’re not quite sure what Huawei’s plans are for the future of the operating system. But it all seems very ambitious.