Huawei Is Finally Rolling Out Its Own "Harmony" Operating System

After U.S. sanctions forced Google to withdraw access to Android last year, Huawei has now finally officially released its own operating system: the HarmonyOS 2. According to the Chinese firm, the new HarmonyOS 2 is said to offer upgraded connectivity, with drag-and-drop interfaces for pairing devices, and a cinch function when you’re watching movies or videos on your phone that’ll send it to a TV and audio to your earbuds.

 

As for which devices are getting the new operating system, Huawei will first begin updating existing devices such as the Mate 40, P40, Mate 30, and MatePad Pro, followed by the nova 6, nova 7, nova 8, Mate 20 and other MatePad products by the third quarter of 2021. Near the end of the year, the V and S series smart screens will also receive the update, along with the Mate 20 X smartphones and M6 tablets. Lastly, the Mate 9, Mate 10, P20, P10 and nova 5 will get the update in the first six months of 2022. Elsewhere in tech, Google’s high-speed QUIC technology has become an official Internet standard.

Leaked Huawei Mate 40 and Mate 40 Pro renders show off massive rear camera array

It appears that Chinese phone-maker Huawei is sticking with the circular camera motif it established with 2019's Mate 30 range – new leaked renders allegedly showing the upcoming Mate 40 and Mate 40 Pro have revealed a similarly round camera array that's even bigger that it was on last year's models.

The renders, courtesy of a joint effort between @OnLeaks, @Pricebaba and @HandsetExpert, show near identical rear camera modules on both models, distinguished only by a difference in one of the camera's sensors.

The first image, said to be of the standard Huawei Mate 40, shows three regular-looking sensors (likely an update of the Mate 30's wide, ultra-wide and telephoto lenses) opposite a fourth blacked-out sensor.

The image below that, presumed to be the Huawei Mate 40 Pro, features the same three regular sensors along with a square periscope sensor to round out the package.

As for other differences, it appears that the standard Mate 40 sports a flat display, while the Mate 40 Pro boasts curved glass on either side of the screen – a mild departure from the 'quad-curve overflow display' that featured on the P40 Pro earlier in the year, which also sported curved glass at the top and bottom of its screen.

Both phones seem to feature a pill-shaped cutout which house their respective selfie cameras. Based on looks alone, it appears as though Huawei has carried over its front-facing camera implementation from the P40 Pro, which featured a wide lens accompanied by a ToF (time-of-flight) 3D sensor.

As always, all of the information above (including the leaked renders) should be taken with a grain of salt until Huawei itself lifts the curtain on its upcoming devices, which is expected to happen sometime in October.