There is no more doubt that June 2 will mark a significant milestone for tech giant Huawei in its pursuit of software independence. Huawei is expected to officially launch its homegrown HarmonyOS operating system for smartphones as a viable alternative to Android.

A list of Huawei devices migrating to the platform has now surfaced online. The leaked list includes the Mate 40 series (Mate 40, Mate 40 Pro, Mate 40 Pro+, Mate 40 RS), Mate X2, and MatePad Pro. We would certainly see more devices joining the bandwagon, and this is expected to be pretty rapid. However, Huawei will formally announce the devices that will be among the first to migrate to the new platform on June 2, just days away.

The company hopes to achieve more than a quarter of a billion devices running on HarmonyOS by the year’s end. The bulk of the projected devices that will ultimately rely on the Android alternative will come from existing devices that migrate to the new platform, while a fraction will come from new devices.

Huawei’s HarmonyOS is a product borne out of the extended and stringent sanctions imposed on the Chinese company by the US government. The sanctions saw Huawei’s smartphone business gasping for breath as Washington tightened the noose.

The release of an alternative platform to Google’s Android has significant ramifications in the short term. It could signal the beginning of some level of independence and over-reliance on suppliers from the United States for critical software components. Huawei has so far been able to shield the HarmonyOS from prying eyes since not much is known about the platform. However, it may not be significantly different from the current Android 11 in terms of the user interface and design functionality.

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(source)