Android

Phones running EMUI 11 will be able to upgrade to Harmony OS

Sep 18,2024
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Huawei officially unveiled HarmonyOS 2.0 and confirmed that it will power smartphones in 2021. Huawei and Honor Users be ready you may not need to buy a new phone to make the switch – some EMUI 11 devices will be able to install and run the new OS.

It’s unclear if the upgrade to Harmony OS will be available to all devices running EMUI 11 or if Huawei will only offer the upgrade to certain devices running its new Android skin. It’s also unclear if this will be a mandatory change or an optional upgrade & also if users will be able to roll back to the Android-based EMUI after trying out Huawei’s in-house operating system. It nevertheless makes for a pretty interesting proposition

“Yes, devices running the new distributed-technology based EMUI 11 will be eligible for an upgrade to Harmony OS in the future,” According to Huawei representative.

As of September 10, HarmonyOS is available for low-power devices – wearables, smart TVs, car infotainment systems. Next year, it will be opened up to mid-tier devices with up to 4 GB of RAM in April 2021 while flagship products with more than 4 GB will have to wait until October 2021. Huawei will help developers get a running start by giving them access to a beta version of HarmonyOS for smartphones this December.

Still, it could be a year before the flagship Huawei P40 phones can install the new OS. However, Huawei and Honor have a roster of Google-free mid-rangers that don’t stand to lose much – HMS Core already boasts 96,000 apps, which will presumably be supported by the new platform.