Huawei will keep Android app support for overseas devices
Huawei unveiled HarmonyOS Next for developers with one major feature gone â there will be no support for apk files, which are Android apps. Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei, revealed the new OS is ready to be rolled out to end users, stirring confusion among Huawei owners across the globe.
One week after the announcement, the company issued a clarification that overseas units will not receive the new OS. Mobile phones and tablets will keep using EMUI - a HarmonyOS lookalike, which is an Android Open Source Project without the Google-owned branding and apps, and support for apk files will remain.
According to China Mobile, Huawei will âcontinue to increase its support for developers around the worldâ. The company developed a huge movement of app developers, solely working on making sure Android apps from third-party stores are working properly on their Google-less phones.
Multiple times, Huawei executives assured the GSMArena team, both on and off the record, that support for phones and tablets in global markets will keep growing, and the company still sees itself as a major software and hardware manufacturer in the world of mobile phones.
We also have an official confirmation that Huawei will keep using Emotion UI (EMUI) branding for its overseas devices until it is absolutely confident that customers will be ready to accept the move to HarmonyOS.
Source (in Chinese)