Harmony OS First Beta Version Becomes Available On December 18

Due to the US sanctions against the company, the smartphone manufacturer Huawei has not been able to use Google services on its devices for some time. The group has therefore developed its own mobile operating system.

The software is called Harmony OS and should be rolled out in the next year. As Huawei has announced on Weibo, there will be a first Harmony beta version in December. The preview build should initially only be available to developers and appear on December 18th. A public beta could then be rolled out in January or February.

Users can upgrade

The owners of a Huawei smartphone with an installed Android operating system (AOSP) should in the future be given the option to switch directly to Harmony OS. How exactly the migration works is still fairly unclear at the moment. The only thing that is certain is that the EMUI user interface must be installed on the Huawei device in addition to Android. The Chinese manufacturer has not yet released any details on this. More information on the topic may be published when the first beta version is launched.

US government could lift bans

Of course, it is still open whether Huawei actually needs the Harmony OS. It is conceivable that the future US administration under the leadership of Joe Biden will lift the sanctions imposed by Donald Trump and thus allow the use of Google services again. Nevertheless, Harmony OS should help the Chinese smartphone manufacturer to develop an independent and therefore crisis-proof ecosystem in the long term.