Yes, that is at last taking place. Huawei’s HarmonyOS NEXT is moving away from its clumsy Android foundation. The new OS version is a brand-new software endeavor, just as it was announced during the Huawei Developer Conference (HDC) 2023. The HarmonyOS NEXT Beta was formally introduced by Huawei at the HDC 2024 conference this year.

First, let’s review some of the fundamentals. HarmonyOS NEXT is neither strictly speaking a Linux system nor is it built on the Android platform. It is the central distributed operating system for HarmonyOS, based on microkernel technology and derived from OpenHarmony. In other words, the HarmonyOS microkernel is present in HarmonyOS NEXT. Only native APP apps with support for Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) Core may be created using Ark Compiler. This indicates that, as this Weibo post originally showed, the OS is not natively compatible with Android APK files and apps.

The UI video shows that HarmonyOS NEXT still has a similar look and feel to it. That is only the smartphone version, though; HarmonyOS NEXT will also work with other hardware. However, Huawei claims that the new design beneath the hood would increase overall performance efficiency by 30%. It seems that there is a three-fold increase in connectivity speed, which leads to faster communications between devices. It appears that overall power usage has been cut by 20%, which is a significant reduction. However, we are unsure about the exact benchmark that Huawei is using for these figures.

One of HarmonyOS NEXT’s most notable characteristics is its seamless unified architecture, which blends cloud and local facilities. The experience is heavily reliant on interconnectivity. Users won’t need to go through many stages or the installation procedure in order to share content or connect apps across devices. Deeply embedded AI is also included in HarmonyOS NEXT. For those with speech or vision impairments, there are built-in functions including picture creation, artificial intelligence sound restoration, and reading support.

Moreover, HarmonyOS NEXT boasts support for FFRT, Ark Multimedia Engine, and Ark Graphics Engine, making it a multimedia powerhouse. It looks like the last piece of technology might enable PC-level ray tracing for games.

HarmonyOS NEXT Beta is currently limited to users in China. What Huawei has planned for the OS’s future is unclear to us. All of it sounds pretty ambitious, too.

You may also like to check out:

• Huawei releases its OS without Google
• Later this year, Huawei is probably going to launch a new HarmonyOS NEXT tablet
• Harmony OS 2.0 Will Officially Come At HDC Together Conference (SEP. 10 – 12)
• People Think Hongmeng OS Is A Reskinned Android However In All Actuality
• Apple releases iOS 15.1.1 to further improve drop call execution on iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 models
• Apple Products Discontinued in 2022

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