What’s going on here?

Huawei has finally unveiled its own operating system, a move that could help shield the smartphone maker from the escalating US-China trade war.

What does that mean?

• The reveal of Harmony OS comes months after Huawei was placed on a US trade blacklist that barred American firms from selling tech and software to Huawei unless they get a license to do so. That ban has prevented companies like Google from supplying new Huawei devices with its version of Android OS.
• Harmony “is completely different from Android and iOS,” Apple’s operating system, said the CEO of Huawei’s consumer business group. He said that Huawei can start using Harmony in smartphones “at any time,” but it’s giving “priority” to Android right now, adding that it is “not that difficult” to migrate from Android to Huawei’s own system.
• Harmony will be deployed first in Huawei’s smartwatches, smart screens, smart speakers and other devices, including “in-vehicle systems.” Devices that use Harmony will be integrated with each other; and the operating system will be open-sourced.

The big picture

• Huawei is the world’s second-largest smartphone seller behind Samsung and it has relied on a suite of Google services for its devices, including the Android system and the Google Play app store. But the US ban has thrown a wrench into that partnership since it was implemented in May.
• Consumers who already owned Huawei smartphones were largely unaffected, but
  • the blacklist limited Huawei to the public version of Android for new devices, making sales of Huawei’s smartphones suffer in international markets as a result
  • Huawei has held up well in China where most of Google’s popular products are banned anyway and Huawei has been offering alternatives. 
• American tech companies had hoped to soon resume sales to Huawei. But that might not be happening soon: Bloomberg reported earlier that the White House plans to delay a decision on granting licenses that would allow US companies to keep selling to Huawei.

Content source: He. L. (2019) Huawei unveils its rival to Android. It's called Harmony. CNN Business. Available from: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/08/09/tech/huawei-harmony-os/index.html?utm_term=link&utm_source=fbbusiness&utm_content=2019-08-09T10%3A25%3A05&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR0_cLvJAuTffM6P7H3hxAa6QF0nvB_JEIIrwfV4FG63bFaLSsMxRK5bgQM [Accessed 13 August, 2019]