What a year 2024 has been for Huawei: its 5G smartphones have come back in a big way, conquering the ground lost in recent years and becoming the norm in the face of vetoes from the United States. And on the other hand, HarmonyOS Next updates the mobile. phones from the manufacturer, an operating system without Android dependencies and which represents the first Chinese ecosystem. Local users are leaving Google OS and iOS aside, and now have one more reason: the arrival of a basic application.
The arduous task of starting a new operating system has one defining point for its future: applications. Now they don't support Android apps, so Huawei is trying to avoid this problem which has caused a lot of damage to systems like Windows Phone in the past. When the Mate 70 family launched, they promised 100,000 apps and The one that has just arrived is one of the most relevant in the daily life of Chinese users.
HarmonyOS Next removes a pending app
Building an operating system from scratch is not easy, but Huawei has the potential to develop it even in its own home. HarmonyOS Next has started its journey on the right foot, leave its Android past behind and take market share away from Apple iPhones in China. In the rest of the world, Huawei phones continue to be distributed with Android, disguised as EMUI.
Today, as we have commented, “Next” has captivated users who bet on a high-end national product, and now with a native ecosystem. The only question remaining was the lack of applications: the arrival of WeChat It dissipates them, at least partially, since it is an essential service in the Asian country.
Users of a Huawei smartphone updated to the new HarmonyOS Next can now download the stable and official version of WeChat from the App gallery. The company behind it, Tencent, has been developing it for months, and it is currently functional, although it still does not have the same functions as its version for Android and iOS.
Screenshot of the WeChat listing in the Huawei AppGallery store. Image: ITHome
What can we do from WeChat for HarmonyOS Next? Mobile payments are enabled, as are short videos, live broadcasts and of course, your instant messaging– with voice calls, video calls and stories (or statuses).
The dominance of Android and iOS is in danger in China: Reducing dependence on American technology is one of the missions of China and Huawei. And in this sense, having the most used applications will be decisive for “Next” to continue to take share in the majority operating system.
In this case, the development of the new version of WeChat was crucial. In addition, he had a special equipment dedicated exclusively to working on the application. As we can see in the screenshot, version 1.0.3.42 is available in the App Gallery.
Huawei crosses an app off its to-do list. This won't matter much in the face of HarmonyOS' promised global launch, but it will certainly be a big boost for the operating system. In the West, WeChat won't work, but you'll need a significant range of services, like those from Google. Will this happen? This seems highly unlikely at this stage, with the chip war generating further acrimony between the two nations.
By | Xataka Mobile
Pictures | Huawei
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