The overall situation has been decided.

Since Huawei announced "HarmonyOS" in 2019, many people may have been waiting for this day.

On the afternoon of June 21, 2024, at the Huawei Developer Conference (HDC 2024) held in Songshan Lake, Dongguan, Huawei officially announced HarmonyOS NEXT, previously codenamed "HarmonyOS Star River Edition," also known as the Beta plan for "Pure HarmonyOS."

Unlike previous versions targeted at developers, this HarmonyOS NEXT Beta plan is also open to some pioneering users and will be available to consumers later. In other words, after so much anticipation and rumor, ordinary users finally have the opportunity to try it out.

As for the outside world, there has been a lot of expectation for this HarmonyOS NEXT Beta. But what kind of HarmonyOS did this Huawei Developer Conference bring? Leitech, which has been tracking the HarmonyOS ecosystem closely, in addition to providing an overall report ("Rebirth of Pure HarmonyOS: Bringing Top Apps Away from Android, Using Full-Scene AI to Compete with Apple"), has specifically sorted out answers to the 10 questions most concerned by HarmonyOS users and developers, hoping to bring you a comprehensive understanding of this HarmonyOS NEXT Beta release.

Q1: Can I use HarmonyOS NEXT Beta?

Yes, but it's currently only available to developers and pioneering users, supporting devices including the Huawei Mate 60 series, Mate X5 series, and MatePad Pro 13.2 inches.

Photo/Huawei

However, according to official information, HarmonyOS NEXT will be open to consumers for public testing in August this year, and more users and devices will be supported in this round of Beta testing. In addition to the above three series, it also includes the Huawei Pura 70 series, Pocket 2 series, MatePad Pro 11 inches 2024 edition, and FreeBuds Pro 3 series.

Theoretically, the threshold for public testing should not be too high, and users of the above models will have the opportunity to upgrade to HarmonyOS NEXT in advance.

As for the official versions of the above models, they will be launched in the fourth quarter of this year. Meanwhile, Yu Chengdong, Chairman of Huawei's Terminal BG, also stated that Huawei's next-generation flagship Mate 70 series will also come pre-installed with HarmonyOS NEXT.

Photo/Huawei

In addition, some models will start Beta testing in the fourth quarter, mostly new products from the past one or two years, including the Huawei nova 12 series (some), MatePad 11.5 "S series, WATCH Ultimate series/Extraordinary Master/GT4 series, FreeClip, and Huawei Smart Glasses 2.

More models and users will have to wait until 2025.

At the conference, Huawei did not announce which old models will be able to upgrade to HarmonyOS NEXT in 2025. However, considering Huawei's efforts in system maintenance in recent years, we can actually refer to the supported models of the latest HarmonyOS 4.2.

The specific upgrade list for HarmonyOS 4.2 is as follows:

Photo/Huawei

Overall, the HarmonyOS 4.2 upgrade plan still supports a large number of old Kirin models released in 2019-2020. Lei believes that most of the models on this upgrade list will continue to be supported by HarmonyOS NEXT, with not much change.

Q2: What requirements does HarmonyOS NEXT have for devices?

From the currently announced compatible models, the first batch of upgrade lists for HarmonyOS NEXT mainly includes models released in the past one or two years. It's worth noting that both mobile phones and tablets are equipped with Kirin chips. For example, some models equipped with Snapdragon chips are not included in the current upgrade list, taking the nova 12 series as an example.

In addition, in addition to mobile phones and tablets, we also noticed other products such as headphones, watches, and glasses. TV products have not been seen yet. However, for wearable products other than mobile phones and tablets, the requirements for third-party applications are not high, and they have long since broken away from Android, with no qualitative changes at the underlying level.

Other aspects may still be mainly based on release time and product positioning.

In fact, from Huawei's perspective, the more models that can be upgraded, the better. This can not only transform the previous massive HarmonyOS device users into HarmonyOS NEXT users, increasing user stickiness; but also expand the device base of "Pure HarmonyOS," attracting more third-party apps and device manufacturers.

But after all, limited by the performance and configuration of the devices, HarmonyOS NEXT may find it difficult to fully utilize its capabilities and experience on some devices, while also encouraging users to choose the latest generation of products.

Q3: What are the differences between HarmonyOS NEXT and previous HarmonyOS?

First, in terms of performance, which affects the daily smooth operation of the operating system, according to Huawei's announced information, switching to HarmonyOS NEXT can achieve a 30% improvement in overall device performance. For users of older models, this will undoubtedly be a huge incentive to upgrade to HarmonyOS NEXT.

Photo/Huawei

Secondly, as we all know, HarmonyOS has always emphasized connectivity with everything, and the interconnected experience has always been the "golden signboard" of the HarmonyOS ecosystem.

Benefiting from the new distributed soft bus, devices upgraded to HarmonyOS NEXT can achieve faster connection speeds and connections to more devices, while power consumption will be reduced by about 20%, accelerating the breakthrough of barriers between devices.

In addition, HarmonyOS NEXT also adopts a brand-new HarmonyOS native intelligence architecture, which we will discuss further below.

And the most core change in HarmonyOS NEXT itself is the elimination of Linux kernel and AOSP (Android Open Source Project) code, meaning that HarmonyOS is no longer compatible and supports Android applications at the system level.

This change is a significant shift for users, third-party applications, and HarmonyOS itself.

It's worth noting that whether it's Android or iOS, users' core needs are met through individual applications, such as Meituan, Didi, Xiaohongshu, Douyin, and so on. From the perspective of third-party applications, development requires investment costs, and the most crucial thing is whether HarmonyOS NEXT can attract a large number of users to upgrade and migrate.

But at least for now, third-party applications still believe in the attractiveness of HarmonyOS NEXT to users.

Q4: What apps can be used on HarmonyOS NEXT now?

The pure HarmonyOS application ecosystem has achieved rapid growth. As of now, thousands of mainstream internet applications have joined and launched HarmonyOS native applications, such as Taobao, Alipay, Meituan, Jinri Toutiao, DingTalk, JD.com, and more.

Photo/Leitech

Theoretically speaking, most users only need to use around 100 applications in most scenarios, and the top 500 applications occupy 99.99% of users' time. However, iOS and Android still have millions of applications each, and users still have needs in some specific scenarios. Therefore, more developers need to develop pure HarmonyOS applications - no developer will ignore the value of over 900 million+ HarmonyOS devices (and increasing).

As a partner in building the HarmonyOS ecosystem, Ant Digital mPaaS has come to the rescue with its solution, which can help developers develop and adapt apps for pure HarmonyOS with one click, continuously enhancing the application's pursuit of speed and stability. As a mobile development platform under Ant Digital, mPaaS has the characteristic of one-time development and multi-end adaptation, which can help customers shield the differences between multiple terminals and multiple OSs, greatly reducing redundant resource investment, making development as simple and fast as charging with just one Type-C cable.

At HDC 2024, Ant Digital mPaaS revealed that based on mPaaS, over 200 apps from China Merchants Bank, Guangfa Bank, PetroChina, China Mobile, and more have started HarmonyOS development testing. Previously, the product has been fully adapted to over 100 HarmonyOS NEXT SDKs and provides over 20 security capabilities, achieving a one-stop development speed that is twice as fast and reducing costs by 40% in actual development scenarios, effectively accelerating App HarmonyOS development.

Q5: Can WeChat be used on Huawei HarmonyOS NEXT?

At HDC 2024, WeChat's logo was indeed not present in Huawei's showcase of the pure HarmonyOS application family. However, this does not mean that HarmonyOS users cannot use WeChat. According to sources close to Tencent, several products, including WeChat, are undergoing development adaptation and technical communication work for the HarmonyOS system.

(Photo source: Leitech live filming)

In addition to Tencent Video, Tencent News, QQ Browser, Sogou Input Method, Tencent Stock Picks, QQ Music, Kugou Music, Kuwo Music, Quanmin K-song, Lazy Reading, and Qidian Reading, which have already publicly appeared at the Huawei Developer Conference, many other Tencent products are already undergoing development adaptation work for the HarmonyOS system, hoping to ensure a smooth, safe, and stable transition to the new system for users as soon as possible.

Currently, Huawei HarmonyOS NEXT is only available for beta testing to developers and pioneering users. It is believed that when officially released, WeChat will be compatible.

Q6: Does the underlying kernel of HarmonyOS still contain Linux code?

HarmonyOS NEXT goes to the root, making a comprehensive breakthrough in the core technology of the operating system. The OS kernel level has completely adopted the HarmonyOS kernel, replacing the old kernel. The file system, database, compiler & runtime, and development system (such as programming languages, programming frameworks, IDE, etc.) are all independently developed. End-to-end independent research and development can achieve more extreme performance.

Photo/Leitech

Lei speculates that the Linux code of HarmonyOS's "old kernel" should have been replaced.

Q7: Can HarmonyOS NEXT install Android applications?

There is no definitive news from the official source, but Lei speculates that installing Android applications should not be possible.

As we all know, the previous version of HarmonyOS was able to install and run Android applications, which was essentially achieved by built-in Linux kernel and AOSP code - which can be simply understood as "built-in Android system".

But as "Pure HarmonyOS," HarmonyOS NEXT has completely eliminated the Android part. Theoretically, Huawei could introduce another HarmonyOS with "built-in Android system," but in reality, Huawei won't do so, as such a "gap" would deter third-party applications from developing HarmonyOS native applications.

Moreover, on various occasions, Huawei has emphasized that HarmonyOS NEXT goes to the root, "leaving no retreat."

Q8: Can third-party devices use HarmonyOS?

First, it needs to be clarified that the HarmonyOS used on Huawei devices is "HarmonyOS," which is an operating system developed by Huawei based on OpenHarmony. The relationship between the two is similar to that between Android and AOSP, including Google as well as third-party vendors such as Xiaomi, OPPO, etc., which actually develop their own "customized" systems based on AOSP code.

Therefore, if it's HarmonyOS, it cannot be used by other device manufacturers. However, third-party devices can connect through Harmony Connect and interact with each other by carrying HarmonyOS.

But if it's OpenHarmony, it can be used and customized by other device manufacturers, including other phone manufacturers like Xiaomi, OPPO, etc. In fact, before this, developers have flashed "HarmonyOS" on phones like Xiaomi 6 and OnePlus 6T, which is actually OpenHarmony.

In addition, some manufacturers will also launch so-called "open-source HarmonyOS developer phones," which are also equipped with OpenHarmony.

Q9: How does the AI capability of HarmonyOS NEXT differ from iOS 18?

In today's AI era, terminal manufacturers are all developing native intelligence. At HDC24, Huawei introduced Harmony Intelligence, which seems similar to Apple Intelligence but has very different ideas:

1. Apple Intelligence is only available on a few models like the 15 Pro, while Harmony Intelligence supports most HarmonyOS NEXT devices, with only a few older models not supported;

2. Apple Intelligence is targeted at global users and not very useful for Chinese users. For example, the demo shown at WWDC 24, "When does my mother's flight arrive?" is based on mobile email data, which is useless for Chinese users as they are not accustomed to using email. Huawei Harmony Intelligence has done a lot of AI innovation applications around Chinese users, such as AIGC elimination and replenishment, AI voice restoration, application transfer, and more.

He Gang, CEO of Huawei's Terminal BG, also talked about many AI functions of Xiaoyi on HarmonyOS NEXT.

For example, using the multi-modal capabilities of the Pangu large model, users with speech impairments can experience "AI voice restoration" on HarmonyOS NEXT; using Pangu's understanding of images and the real world, Xiaoyi also supports video conversation modes similar to GPT-4o demonstrations, reading everything around to visually impaired users. In addition, HarmonyOS NEXT also has functions such as AIGC elimination and AIGC image generation.

Photo/Huawei

Q10: To sum up, how does HarmonyOS NEXT differ from Android and iOS?

HarmonyOS was born in 2019, when large model AI technology was just emerging. In 2024, AIGC and large model technology are being implemented on a large scale, and terminals such as individuals, families, and cars have been fully intelligent, with more and more AI terminals and applications.

In the AI era, there must be a new OS, so it can be said that HarmonyOS NEXT was born at the right time, tailored for the era of full-scene AI. Both Android and iOS are OSs of the mobile era, with poor cross-device compatibility for full scenes and no AI-oriented design at the underlying level.

iOS 18 is also Apple's OS that has undergone significant reconstruction for the AI era, but it is not native or thorough, with weak support for multiple terminals, especially in large terminals like cars and "everything" small terminals, where Apple is basically absent. Apple's system only includes Mac, Pad, Watch, Phone, and VisionPro.

Therefore, HarmonyOS NEXT has several differences:

First, full-scene compatibility. HarmonyOS NEXT supports all smart devices, large and small, and can achieve seamless flow between different devices based on its unique file system and communication protocol, such as powerful Share collaboration