Huawei Needs to Build the Operating System No One Thinks It Can
No company has succeeded in building an operating system to compete with Android and iOS, but Huawei is going to try — because it has no alternative
Huawei’s smartphone business is living on borrowed time. In May, the U.S. government blocked companies like Google from dealing with Huawei, an order it temporarily lifted to let the phone-maker update its existing Android phones. Huawei got another reprieve on Monday, when the U.S. Commerce Department extended the company’s permit by 90 days, but the clock is ticking. Without the ability to tap into Google’s operating system, Huawei’s smartphone business — which accounts for 18.9% of the worldwide market — is in jeopardy. So, the company is trying something that usually fails: building its own operating system.
Earlier this month, Huawei announced its new HarmonyOS, a platform the company has been developing behind the scenes for some time. It’s an open-source operating system designed to run on everything from smartphones to TVs to wearables. According to Huawei, developers will be able to code apps that can run across all of HarmonyOS’ platforms; no need to write separate apps for the TV and smartwatch, in other words.
