HarmonyOS NEXT – Huawei completely moves away from Google. Users of the company’s devices will not use the Android application

Since Huawei lost the ability to establish commercial contacts with companies in the US in 2019, its path in the mobile device market has become quite bumpy. The brand’s shares were falling rapidly, and the subsequent lack of Google services in the smartphones offered only intensified this process. However, in the same year in which Huawei was included in the so-called Entity List, the original HarmonyOS system was released. Now the company wants to completely cut itself off not only from Google services, but also from Android as a whole.

HarmonyOS is an operating system available on Huawei devices. It is only deprived of Google services, but soon it will also be almost completely disconnected from Android itself. All thanks to the upcoming HarmonyOS NEXT.

Huawei and Honor smartphones perceive the Google application as a virus. One of the producers commented on the matter

The new HarmonyOS NEXT system was presented at the Huawei Developer Conference 2023, which took place from July 7 to 9. Now we have learned that Chinese companies related to the technology industry are looking for programmers who will be responsible for creating applications for the mentioned system. All because the next version of the manufacturer’s software completely cuts itself off from the Android source code and libraries. Huawei devices will no longer support applications from the Google system, i.e. those saved in the .apk format. Instead, a new .app (App Pack) format is introduced, which will contain HAP (HarmonyOS Ability Package) packages.

Ultimate Design – Huawei has officially introduced a new sub-brand. What can we expect this time?

Initially, its debut will take place only on the Chinese market, but over time the system may also be released globally. The pre-release version (Developer Preview) was available at the above-mentioned HDC 2023 event. Participants could see with their own eyes what the completely new version of HarmonyOS NEXT will look like. The operating system looks very similar to Android, but according to the company it has little in common with it. The devices visible in this entry are the Huawei Mate 40 Pro (Kirin 9000) smartphone and the Huawei MatePad Pro 12.6 (Kirin 9000E) tablet. Of course, in China itself, the lack of native support for Android applications will not be a major obstacle, but in European markets the situation may be completely different.

Source: Weibo @WHYLAB, South China Morning Post, Huawei Central