With Huawei expected to transition to Harmony OS (also known as HongMeng in China) from Android in the coming months, EMUI 11 might well be the last installment of the company’s Android-based smartphone operating system. That’s according to Wang Chenglu, president of Huawei’s consumer software department, who claimed in an interview this week that EMUI 11 already uses much of HongMeng’s framework, such as performance, system scheduling and more.
While Wang never said it in as many words, the launch of HongMeng OS 2.0 might spell the end of the road for Android-based EMUI the way we know it today. Huawei is expected to initially launch HongMeng OS 2.0 Beta for televisions and automobiles before moving to smartphones in December. According to Chinese tech blog, MyDrivers, smartphones released by the company next year will “fully support HongMeng 2.0”, with EMUI 11 users reportedly in line to get priority update to the new software.
The report comes just days after Huawei officially confirmed that some of the phones running EMUI 11 will receive the Harmony OS 2.0 update. The latest version of Huawei’s in-house IoT operating system is being rolled out to developers in phases, with the first beta builts for smartphones expected to be released before the end of the year. The OS was first unveiled last year amidst worries that the company might lose access to Android because of US sanctions.
According to earlier rumors, the first batch of handsets to receive the new software will be the ones powered by the Kirin 9000 SoC, while those powered by the Kirin 990 will be next in line. Do note that only the 5G models are being rumored to get the full update, while the roadmap for the 4G models is yet unclear.
