In poker, this is called going all-in or all-in.
Chinese telecom giant Huawei unveiled HarmonyOS 2.0, the latest version of its operating system in development since the Trump administration in 2019 banned Google from selling its technologies, including Android, to the company in midweek. from Shenzhen.
Having become in a few years one of the three main smartphone manufacturers, along with the Korean Samsung and the American Apple, Huawei collapsed like a house of cards after the loss of its Android license and essential applications for Western consumers such as YouTube, Google Maps or Gmail.
But also with the recent ban on using component suppliers who use US patents.
The world's leading telecom equipment manufacturer has embarked on a diversification strategy in order to free itself from sales of smartphones.
Huawei now markets tablets, wireless headphones and PCs;
it only needed an operating system to run this ecosystem.
Based on a free and open-source version of Android, HarmonyOS acts as a gateway between connected objects which will thus be able to better interact and exchange data with each other, but also a little later with smartphones that will be equipped with it.
Break the iOS and Android duopoly
“With HarmonyOS, we weren't just going to produce another Android or iOS, it wouldn't be of value to the consumer.
Our special features are those that Android and iOS lack, ”lead developer Wang Chenglu said in a keynote Wednesday in China.
The operating system has 300 compatible applications in China but a big challenge arises in the rest of the world: to convince developers to create apps to install on devices that will run on HarmonyOS.
So far, no company has succeeded in tackling the Apple / Google duopoly of mobile operating systems.
Samsung with Tizen, Microsoft's Windows Phone or Amazon with Fire all ended up throwing in the towel.
"Developers will only have to write a single source code that can run on all devices, from a smart bulb with low memory to a smartwatch or a tablet," argues Andreas Zimmer, product manager for Huawei Europe.
The Chinese manufacturer is targeting 300 million products, mostly connected objects, powered by its in-house software by the end of the year.
Updates should soon arrive for devices already in circulation such as the P and Mate ranges sold without Android and Google services.
Unveiled this week, the Watch 3 Pro, the MatePad 11 or MatePad Pro tablets will inaugurate the list of new devices which will be so many showcases to demonstrate the fluidity of HarmonyOS. Before deploying it on the future P50 Pro and Mate 50.