Forget Windows 11 or macOS – Huawei is making its own desktop OS from scratch and it could be out by late 2024
Huawei is looking to take on the big players in the desktop operating system arena with its own Android-free PC alternative. Reports suggest that the Chinese tech giant’s new operating system could launch later this year and that its design will be inspired by macOS.
Huawei wants to take on mainstays like Windows 11 and entice users, but it already has the expertise and experience to create its own operating system, HarmonyOS — and a new version, HarmonyOS Next — for mobile devices and wearables like smartwatches. However, Huawei has faced criticism over concerns that its products could potentially enable surveillance by the Chinese government.
Jason Wil, who calls Windows Central as HarmonyOS developer, posted an X to indicate that more images of interface layouts for the PC version of HarmonyOS Next are appearing on Huawei’s developer website. Jason Will then suggests that this means a desktop version of HarmonyOS for PCs will launch in the last quarter of 2024.
The increasing appearance of HarmonyOS PC version UI layouts on Huawei’s developer website suggests that HarmonyOS Next for PC will definitely launch in the fourth quarter of this year. pic.twitter.com/oEmRAsN0CCJuly 16, 2024
The Troubled Backstory of HarmonyOS
While the prospect of converting Windows users to HarmonyOS Next may have been part of what motivated Huawei to make this move, there’s also the fact that the US government has imposed restrictions on Huawei that prevent the company from using both Windows and Android on its devices. More specifically, the US imposed sanctions that prohibited American tech companies like Google, which develops Android, and Microsoft, which develops Windows, from doing business with Huawei.
These measures meant that Huawei was not allowed to pre-install Windows or Android on the smartphones, laptops and other devices it produces. This was thus presumably the main driving factor in Huawei developing its own operating systems and software, which would also allow developers to create and distribute apps on its platform.
Before all of this happened, Huawei had established itself as a popular brand outside of Asia, capturing the attention of consumers with Windows laptops and tablets that were praised for their great displays and sleek, well-thought-out designs. The same was true for its smartphones, which were certainly creating a fan base in the US, Europe, and elsewhere.
Can HarmonyOS Next on PC be a success?
I expect the design of the PC version of HarmonyOS Next to be consistent with the other operating systems under the HarmonyOS umbrella.
If you look closely at the images that Jason Will shared of HarmonyOS Next for PCs, it appears that the operating system’s design has been heavily influenced by macOS (or, to put it more cynically, copied from it). That includes the status bar, the dock bar, and the general aesthetic.
Notably, HarmonyOS Next is open source and completely Android-free, as it is built on its own microkernel (the core building blocks of an operating system), making it some impressive performance gains, Huawei claims.
According to Windows Central, it looks like HarmonyOS Next will have to exist completely independently of software from American companies and abandon Android entirely. Of course, that also means developing apps for the operating system from scratch.
Apparently, developers can now dive in, as HarmonyOS Next has been released as a developer sandbox for building and testing applications. Building out the software ecosystem around the OS will obviously take some time, and is a critical element to its success (or lack thereof).
Now, creating an operating system completely independent of US software is unlikely to win the trust of US lawmakers, or assuage broader concerns about surveillance (despite the open-source nature of HarmonyOS Next). So Huawei’s desktop OS will likely suffer in other regions, but in China – a huge market – Huawei could poach a significant number of users from Windows. And perhaps some users in other countries could even follow suit – especially given that Windows 10 ends support at the end of next year.