In November 2023, we reported the following news: Huawei was preparing to say goodbye to APK files by definitively breaking the little tie it had with Android. HarmonyOS was born as a version of EMUI without Google services; However, Huawei’s argument from the beginning was that it was a completely independent operating system.

The plan is beginning to be implemented, at least in China. HarmonyOS Next is the new version of this system for 2024, and as sources indicate, Richard Yu himself confirmed this Thursday that the operating system will not be compatible with Android applications.

HarmonyOS faces a new era in China

Initially, HarmonyOS’s core was very similar to Android’s. In fact, the first versions were a carbon copy of EMUI at the code level. It’s been raining since 2019 and in this new version, The core is entirely its own. (According to Yu): file system, programming language, AI framework, language models in applications, etc.

The biggest system-level impact will be on the app ecosystem itself: App Gallery will no longer be a repository for .APK files in China. The apps will be HarmonyOS-specific enhancements and compatibility with any APKs you want to download externally will be lost.

The key point here is that there is currently no news of HarmonyOS Next coming out of the Asian market. In November, Huawei confirmed that it had no plans to take this software outside of China and that developments in Europe would continue to be compatible with Android.

The move in China makes some sense: Huawei is rapidly increasing sales in its home country with models like the Mate 60 Pro, and it achieved 8% growth last year. It lags behind rivals like Apple, Vivo, OPPO and even Honor (it’s currently leading in China along with OPPO), but its strategy of focusing on China seems to be working.

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