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Huawei
TechTech War

Huawei to launch updated home-grown operating system HarmonyOS 3 amid US sanctions as China seeks tech self-sufficiency

  • The sanctions-hit Chinese telecoms giant says it plans to launch an updated version of its self-developed operating system this month
  • The Android alternative, released nearly three years ago, has largely failed to stem Huawei’s losing tide in the global smartphone market

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A Huawei smartphone installed with HarmonyOS is displayed at a Huawei store in Beijing in 2021. Photo: Reuters
Che PanandIris Deng
Sanctions-hit Huawei Technologies Co said on Monday it would release this month an updated version of its self-developed operating system HarmonyOS, heeding Beijing’s call to shake off China’s reliance on foreign technologies.

HarmonyOS 3 will be released on July 27, according to Huawei’s statement posted on the microblogging site Weibo. The company did not elaborate on the features of the new system.

Huawei declined to comment further on Monday.

The Shenzhen-based telecoms giant debuted HarmonyOS in August 2019, three months after Google stopped providing its suite of proprietary mobile software services to the company because of US trade sanctions.

Huawei launches its HarmonyOS 2 for smartphones in Shenzhen in 2021. Photo: Xinhua
Huawei launches its HarmonyOS 2 for smartphones in Shenzhen in 2021. Photo: Xinhua

The Chinese company has been banking on its in-house operating system, which is used on a variety of products in its ecosystem, to stay competitive. HarmonyOS 2, released in September 2020, been available for users to install on existing Huawei smartphones since last year.

By the end of last year, 220 million Huawei devices were equipped with HarmonyOS.

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