EMUI 11 may be based on HarmonyOS and could reach upwards of 50 devices

It has been over a year since rumours started circulating of Huawei switching to a true in-house alternative to Android. Originally called Hongmeng OS, Huawei officially announced the operating system as Harmony OS in August 2019. Huawei declared that it would not be releasing version 1.0 of Harmony OS to smartphones, but a new rumour claims that this year's edition will underpin EMUI 11. By extension, Harmony OS 2.0 would be at the heart of Magic UI 4.0, the version of EMUI for Honor-branded devices.

The rumour appears to stem from Club Huawei. According to one announcement for the company's upcoming Developer's Conference, the initial launch of Harmony OS 2.0 aligns with the planned release for EMUI 11. Huawei will debut its latest OS on the Mate 40 series, as it did with EMUI 10 and the Mate 30 series last year. Apparently, the timing of the release of both OSes is not coincidental, and Huawei will base EMUI 11 on Harmony OS 2.0.

It remains to be seen how Huawei could integrate Google Mobile Services (GMS) for devices like the Mate 20 and P30 series. Both are eligible to receive EMUI 11 but were released with GMS pre-installed, which is not the case for newer series like the Mate 30 and P40.

The same post states that "at least 49 devices" will be upgraded to EMUI 11 and Magic UI 4.0. The list provided includes many of those contained in a list that appeared online earlier this month. The devices that have made the cut include the Mate 30 series, recent P series smartphones and current nova series devices. We would recommend waiting until Huawei releases an official EMUI 11 and Magic UI 4.0 upgrade list before ruling any devices in or out.