Huawei‘s developer conference in June is expected to bring the Beta launch of the HarmonyOS NEXT version, a significant milestone for the company’s homegrown operating system. While official details are still under wraps, a recent leak suggests a wider rollout in September across various device categories.

Tipster Digital Chat Station claims internal plans for a September launch of HarmonyOS NEXT with compatibility for “candy bar flagships, folding flagships, mid-range phones, tablets, and smartwatches” expected in the latter half of 2024. 

The candy bar flagship mentioned in the leak likely refers to the upcoming Huawei Mate 70 series, which based on previous reports, is expected to launch in early September.

Technically, with HarmonyOS NEXT, Huawei is making a complete break from Android. It ditches the traditional Android Open Source Project (AOSP) codebase completely and relies entirely on Huawei’s self-developed Hongmeng kernel and system applications, making it incompatible with Android apps.

Despite this shift, Huawei has been successful in convincing thousands of companies and institutions to develop native applications for HarmonyOS NEXT.  The company announced that over 4,000 native apps have already been developed for the new OS, with more on the way. These apps span various categories like navigation, news, finance, and games.

Huawei’s official goal is to have 5,000 native apps available by the end of 2024, with a long-term vision of reaching 500,000. The success of this transition will depend heavily on app developer adoption and user experience with the new app ecosystem.

The September launch timeframe suggests an ambitious rollout plan for Huawei. Whether the new HarmonyOS can establish itself as a viable alternative in the mobile operating system market remains to be seen.

Related:

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR