Huawei, Xiaomi, VIVO, OPPO, and Honor are all independent and controllable Android systems in China, and Huawei's Hongmeng ecosystem, which is more than other companies, are two new models, which have nothing to do with technical autonomy and controllability, but are related to non-technical factors.
The Android systems of Chinese mobile phone factories are all independent and controllable, and not only Huawei Hongmeng is independent and controllable. Huawei Hongmeng has HMS Core and Hongmeng Galaxy Edition, which are Android shells and new OS.
Android basic capabilities are open source, called AOSP, AOSP, full name "Android Open Source Project", Chinese for "Android Open Source Project". AOSP is a publicly available and modifiable Android source code that anyone can download and modify their device.
Google is only the initiator of Android, not the controller of AOSP. So what does Google get out of Andorid? It's GMS, which stands for Google Mobile Service. Google has made Google account, email, maps, YouTube and other services into SDKs on mobile phones, which is equivalent to letting its Internet applications colonize Android phones around the world.
The real value of GMS comes from the back-end service, not the SDK on the mobile side. These cloud services are targeted at the businesses of Internet companies such as China BAT. So, Google's value doesn't come from mobile phones, but from Internet services.
The five major domestic mobile phone factories do not use GMS at all, and AOSP is not American, nor is it Google's. Domestic mobile phones use domestic Internet applications, not Google's Play Market, Maps, and YouTube, which is independent and controllable.
Since Android phones can install third-party apps, can Google easily penetrate into domestic mobile phones? In fact, it is difficult, because domestic mobile phone factories have their own app stores (instead of Google Play), which basically controls the distribution of APP.
It can be seen that the five major domestic mobile phone companies Huawei, Xiaomi, VIVO, OPPO, and Honor are all localized, and the open source AOSP for software is its own app store, and it is impossible for Google to control or infiltrate it.
So, what is the difference between Huawei's self-developed HarmonyOS OS? This has nothing to do with autonomy and controllability, but two new things:
- The first one is HMS Core, an alternative to GMS for overseas markets
- The second is the Hongmeng Galaxy version, for the future ecology
Huawei's HMS Core is a replacement for GMS, mainly to solve the problem that GMS cannot be used in overseas markets, and of course it can also be used in China.
Huawei's HMS Core is a veritable "Android case", which can be used not only on Huawei mobile phones, but also on any standard Android system, as well as mobile phones from Xiaomi, VIVO, and OPPP. With HMS Core, most of Huawei's apps can be installed on different phones, and HMS Core is even available in major app stores.
HMS Core and GMS Core are both based on AOSP and are both "Android shells". The United States does not allow Google to cooperate with Huawei, Huawei can only find HMS to replace GMS, and from a business perspective, Huawei and Google are lose-lose.
Why do domestic HMS and GMS sound very small? Because the domestic apps are all third-party applications of standard Android, based on AOSP, not based on GMS special SDK. To a certain extent, the Android ecosystem jointly built by several major mobile phone manufacturers and Internet companies in China has saved Huawei.
Huawei HMS Core is a veritable Android shell on the mobile phone, but there are many things in the cloud, such as: Huawei has more Petal maps than other mobile phone manufacturers, and it began to solve the replacement of overseas Google Maps, and later it can also be used in China. As we all know, making a global map is still a lot of work, and for Huawei, in order to use mobile phones around the world, it is necessary to have its own map.
Huawei's HarmonyOS Next version is a brand new code, so you need to find major apps to adapt, for systems that only have HarmonyOS Galaxy version, Android programs can't run at all, and you have to redo the program. Of course, there are still distant things in the HarmonyOS Galaxy Edition, because the software is easy and the ecology is difficult.
Not only Huawei, China's five major mobile phone manufacturers are independent and controllable in the domestic mobile phone Android system. Android AOSP is equal to the world, open source domestic is the first step, and Huawei has done the last two steps. Huawei's HMS Core will first make Android shells, and the Hongmeng Galaxy version will make a new platform, and Huawei's goals are the survival of overseas versions of Huawei mobile phones, and pure domestic OS.