Huawei launched its HarmonyOS 2.0 platform at its annual Huawei Developer Conference (HDC) 2020 conference in China today. The company’s rotating CEO, Richard Yu, confirmed at the event that Huawei will release HarmonyOS powered smartphones in 2021. The first beta release of HarmonyOS for smartphones will be available in December 2020 for developers.

Until now, Huawei had denied that it was planning to use HarmonyOS on smartphones. The company said that the OS was developed for smart devices and it didn’t have any plans to release it for phones anytime soon. But it looks like the increasing pressure from the US ban has forced the company to fast track the development of its own OS for smartphones.

Since May 2019, Huawei is barred from using Google Mobile Services that power Android phones across the world. And last month, after the US failed to renew its Temporary General License (TGL), the company lost access to Google’s support and updates to older devices. While Huawei confirmed that security updates will continue to roll out to its older devices, it still marked a big blow to the company’s smartphone strategy.

Huawei will release the HarmonyOS 2.0 beta version for smartphones with SDK, Documentation, Tool, and Simulator to developers in December 2020. The company adds that we can expect smartphones running on HarmonyOS in 2021.

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Richard Yu reveals that the initial version of HarmonyOS 2.0 will support devices with 128KB to 128MB of RAM. In April 2021, Huawei plans to add support for larger RAM devices between 128MB and 4GB. Finally, in October 2021, the company will add support for devices with 4+ GB RAM. This roadmap is for the HarmonyOS 2.0 version and not specifically for the smartphone OS. But it hints that the first batch of HarmonyOS smartphones may be targeted at the budget or mid-range segment with less than 4GB of RAM.

Note that Huawei’s HarmonyOS is an open-source platform, similar to Android. So you can consider Huawei’s relationship with HarmonyOS similar to Google’s relationship with Android. Even though Huawei will develop HarmonyOS, since it’s an open-source platform, Huawei is likely hoping that other companies can use it on their own devices in the future.

Now that it aims to take on Google’s Android with its own OS, the next few months will be extremely interesting. It remains to be seen if HarmonyOS powered smartphones can coexist with its Android competitors next year.

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The post Confirmed: Huawei HarmonyOS 2.0 is coming to smartphones in 2021 appeared first on Gizmochina.

Update: Huawei reached out to us to inform us that HarmonyOS 2.0 will not be announced at HDC 2020. The original story below has been edited to reflect the change.

Update 2: We got contacted again with the confirmation that HarmonyOS 2.0 WILL be announced at the developer conference.

This year’s Huawei Developer Conference will be held next month from 10th to 12th. The announcement was made today by the tech giant along with the info that early-bird tickets will go on sale tomorrow. More details have also surfaced about what to expect.

#HDC2020 is coming… it’s time to experience a fully connected, intelligent world.
Want in? Save the Date now: 10-12 September 2020.#Huawei pic.twitter.com/OMc6k13aQC

— Huawei Mobile (@HuaweiMobile) August 2, 2020

Info on Huawei’s website says that it will announce new versions of its operating systems EMUI which is EMUI 11. It will also announce HarmonyOS 2.0 and new kits for HMS Core 5.0.

A few days ago, Huawei announced Huawei AR Engine, its take on Google’s ARCore, for developing augmented reality apps that will work for Huawei devices powered. It also announced Huawei Computer Graphics Kit that will bring better 3D rendering capabilities to devices powered by Kirin processors. Other kits announced are Audio Kit, image Kit, Video Kit, and Accelerate Kit.

We are also pretty excited to see what new features EMUI 11 will bring to Huawei’s smartphones and tablets.

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The post [Updated again] Huawei to announce EMUI 11 and HMS Core 5.0 at its developer conference in September appeared first on Gizmochina.

Huawei MindSpore AI computing framework is similar to what Google’s TensorFlow is all about. But the latter has an advantage as it is an open-source platform. Following its footsteps, Huawei has also made its Mindspore framework open-source. The company announced it on the second day of Huawei Developer Conference Cloud 2020.

The Chinese tech giant Huawei first announced the MindSpore AI computing framework in August 2019. It follows the three core development goals and they are easy development, efficient execution, and adaptable to all scenarios respectively.

As privacy has become a concern in today’s world, MindSpore only deals with gradient and model information, which has already been processed. That means it does not process the data itself and hence private user data remains protected even in cross-scenario environments. Further, it also has a built-in model protection technology for added security.

The MindSpore AI framework can be used in all scenarios, across all devices, edges and cloud environments. It also provides on-demand cooperation between them and its “AI Algorithm As Code” design helps developers to build advanced AI applications seamlessly. Because in a typical neural network for NLP (Natural Language Processing), it has 20% fewer lines of core code than other frameworks in the market and thus increases the efficiency of developers by at least 50%.

Huawei MindSpore AI framework not only supports the company’s own lineup of AI processors such as Ascend 910 but also other CPUs and GPUs available in the market.

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(Source)

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Huawei has announced that it will be delaying its largest annual developer conference, the HDC.Cloud. The reason cited for the postponement is the new virus outbreak in Wuhan which has caused alarm in China.

According to the event website, HDC.Cloud 2020, which was originally planned to be held in Shenzen from 11th to 12th of February 2020, has been postponed to the 27th – 28th of March 2020. The major event is witnessing more than a month of delay but will still be broadcasted via live webcast. The main reason for the delay is the new virus outbreak which has primarily affected the Wuhan region in China. The Coronavirus is responsible for the outbreak and is known to cause cases of pneumonia in the infected.

Many companies operating in the region have warned their respective employees and citizens residing in the region have been told to exercise caution when moving about in the open. Furthermore, this has even led to face masks being sold out in the Southeast Asian country, which now also suffers from a shortage of the crucial and preventive commodity. Wuhan district is currently under quarantine with 11 million people barred from leaving the region while about 17 people have been confirmed to have perished due to the outbreak.

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For those unaware, HDC.Cloud is Huawei Group’s largest annual developer conference, meaning its a flagship event with notable announcements taking place. The Huawei Developer Conference of 2020 is a global event that also sees the presence of foreign developers as well for its Information and Communications field (ICT). The aim of the conference is to build a global platform for communications and has been an annual event for the past 30 years.

Since the situation is Wuhan grows dire, Huawei’s plan on the delay is the right move with global organizations like WHO (World Health Organization) also stepping in to deal with the situation. Although, controlling an entire region filled with 11 million people seems like a Herculean task in itself. Stay tuned for more updates and developments regarding the event.

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(Via)

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