Huawei’s plan to switch to native HarmonyOS causes developer job postings to spike in China
November 14, 2023

Huawei’s plan to switch to native HarmonyOS causes developer job postings to spike in China

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Just a month after we learned of Huawei’s plan to cut ties with the Android operating system and build a native HarmonyOS, we learn that Chinese Internet companies are already scrambling to find developers to help them follow through on the announced change.

Not only do they want to provide support for the new HarmonyOS Next, but they are offering serious pay to help them transition from Android apps to ones that will work on the new operating system. DigiTimes Asia writes that companies such as Meitaun offer a monthly salary of 40,000-60,000 yuan (which is five to seven thousand euros) to developers who have experience with HarmonyOS and can help in the announced development. Companies JD.com and NetEase are also looking for people, but especially those who know how to make applications for Huawei phones.

At the end of September, the director of the Huawei consumer group, Richard Yu, or Yu Chengdong, announced Huawei’s plan to build HarmonyOS Next and that the company will drop support for Android applications with the new system early next year.

While some companies are hiring people to help them adapt to this Huawei transition, others have already started building versions of their apps for HarmonyOS such as LY.com and BabyBus.

Huawei is breaking Android ties by packing HarmonyOS Next with its native app ecosystem. Huawei plan to move to native HarmonyOSHuaweiCentral

Huawei claims that as of the end of August, it already has more than 700 million devices in its HarmonyOS ecosystem, with 2.2 million developers actively involved in development. As of October 30, more than 100 million devices have upgraded to HarmonyOS 4. The company launched its HarmonyOS in 2019 after being blacklisted by the White House, since which it has been under severe sanctions.

However, this seems to have caused only a temporary halt in the development of this company, because this year, despite sanctions and restrictions, it released the advanced Huawei Kirin 9000s chipset, and insiders claim that it has also created its own AI GPU, which is allegedly on par with the Nvidia A100.