HarmonyOS

HarmonyOS () is a family of operating systems developed by Huawei. Unveiled on 9 August 2019, Huawei initially stated that it would be an independently-developed, microkernel-based, distributed OS, and "completely different from Android and iOS", but it was later revealed that HarmonyOS was actually a derivative of Android. 
The platform was announced as being an embedded operating system for Internet of Things (IoT) devices, but that it could be used as a mobile operating system in the future. Version 1.0 of HarmonyOS was first used by Huawei smart TVs for the Chinese market in September 2019. In September 2020, Huawei announced HarmonyOS 2.0, and released a beta version of the platform for selected Huawei smartphones (which is based on Android 10 source code and Huawei's EMUI software) in December 2020.
History.
Origins.
Reports surrounding an in-house operating system being developed by Huawei date back as far as 2012. They intensified in May 2019 after Huawei was subjected to export restrictions by the United States government for alleged violations of United States sanctions against Iran. Huawei executive Richard Yu described an in-house platform as a "plan B" in case it is prevented from using Android on future smartphone products.
Prior to its unveiling, it was originally speculated to be a mobile operating system that could replace Android on future Huawei devices (in response to financial sanctions imposed on Huawei by the United States government in May 2019), but by July 2019, some Huawei executives were describing Harmony as being an "industrial" embedded operating system designed for IoT hardware, discarding the previous statements for it to be a mobile operating system. These details were confirmed upon the official unveiling of the platform in 2019, with Huawei listing use cases such as smart TVs, in-car entertainment, and wearable devices.
Some media outlets reported that this OS, referred to as "Hongmeng OS", could be released in China in either August or September 2019, with a worldwide release in the second quarter of 2020. On 24 May 2019, Huawei registered "Hongmeng OS" as a trademark in China. The name "Hongmeng" () came from Chinese mythology that symbolizes primordial chaos or the world before creation. The same day, Huawei registered trademarks surrounding "Ark OS" and variants with the European Union Intellectual Property Office. In July 2019, it was reported that Huawei had also registered trademarks surrounding the word "Harmony" for desktop and mobile operating system software, indicating either a different name or a component of the OS.
In June 2019, Huawei communications VP Andrew Williamson told Reuters that the company was testing HongMeng in China, and that it could be ready "in months". However, in July 2019, chairman Liang Hua and senior vice president Catherine Chen stated that Hongmeng OS was not actually intended as a mobile operating system for smartphones, and was actually an embedded operating system designed for Internet of things (IoT) hardware. In July 2019, Huawei chairman Liang Hua stated that the OS was intended for "industrial" use and that Huawei "[had not] decided yet if the Hongmeng OS can be developed as a smartphone operating system in the future" (preferring the continued use of Android for these devices). Building upon the statement, Huawei's senior vice president Catherine Chen stated that it was an embedded operating system designed for Internet of things (IoT) hardware.
Release.
On 9 August 2019, Huawei officially unveiled HarmonyOS at its inaugural developers' conference in Dongguan. Huawei described HarmonyOS as a free, microkernel-based distributed operating system for various types of hardware, with faster inter-process communication than QNX or Google's Fuchsia microkernel, and real-time resource allocation. The ARK compiler can be used to optimise Android APK packages on the OS. Huawei stated that developers would be able to "flexibly" deploy HarmonyOS software across various device categories; the company focused primarily on IoT devices, including smart TVs, wearable devices, and in-car entertainment systems, and did not explicitly position HarmonyOS as a mobile OS.
HarmonyOS 2.0 launched at the Huawei Developer Conference on 10 September 2020. Huawei announced it intended to ship the operating system on its smartphones in 2021.
The first developer beta of HarmonyOS 2.0 was launched on 16 December 2020. Along with the beta, Huawei announced a developer competition with awards that total up to 1.5 million CNY. They also released an IDE, based on IntelliJ IDEA, and a cloud emulator for developers in early access.
Devices.
Huawei stated that HarmonyOS would initially be used on devices targeting the Chinese market. The company's subsidiary brand, Honor, unveiled the Honor Vision line of smart TVs as the first consumer electronics devices to run HarmonyOS. Honor Vision, Honor Vision Pro, Huawei Vision (65/75), Huawei Router AX3 are the first devices to run HarmonyOS 1.0.
HarmonyOS 2.0 will support cross development for smartphones, in-car head units, smart watches and smart TVs. A single user interface can be developed that will automatically adapt between different devices.
The HarmonyOS 2.0 beta launched on 16 December 2020 supports the P40 and P40 Pro, Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro, and MatePad Pro. While the beta fully supports Android apps, a compatibility layer based on Android Runtime also enables support for HAP packages, HarmonyOS's proprietary package format. Selected beta testers in China can download and test HarmonyOS 2.0 via OTA updates. Huawei has also given these beta testers the option to roll back their devices to EMUI 11.
Relations with Android.
Huawei claimed that HarmonyOS is a microkernel-based, distributed OS that is completely different from Android and iOS. However, it was later revealed that HarmonyOS 1.0 was based on Android 9.0 "Pie", and supported Android Debug Bridge (ADB). 
HarmonyOS 2.0 was similarly found to be forked from Android 10, with "Ars Technica" finding that the smartphone beta version was merely a rebranded version of EMUI 10 with all references to Android replaced by "HarmonyOS", and the "DevEco Studio" SDK being largely based on the same core IntelliJ IDEA components as the Android Studio software.
OpenHarmony.
OpenHarmony is the open-source implementation of HarmonyOS launched by the OpenAtom Foundation. The project, hosted on , only targeted IoT platforms as of December 2020. According to the HarmonyOS roadmap, implementations of HarmonyOS on smartphones and Smart TV would become fully open-source before October 2021. 