Is Nokia looking to ditch Android for Huawei's HarmonyOS?

After the ban by the US, Huawei had limited options in terms of hardware and software, while the company is rumoured to have found a workable solution on the hardware front, on the software it is now ready with its Android rival – HarmonyOS.

This new operating system will power all the upcoming Huawei smartphones, tablets and wearables etc. It has also been reported that the company has been in talks with other Chinese brands like Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo and Meizu to make HarmonyOS based phones.

While nothing concrete has come out yet on that front, however, a new report coming out of Taiwan suggests that Finnish company Nokia may be looking to ditch Android in favour of HarmonyOS. If this is at all true, Nokia could very well be the first global company to use Huawei’s operating system on its phones.

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Alarm bells for Google already? 

While HarmonyOS has been in the works for a long time, it was created for IoT devices only, however, after the US government didn’t allow Huawei to use Android on its phones, the company decided to make HarmonyOS into a full-blown operating system.

While the US government may have wanted to limit Huawei to China and cripple its supplies, it's too big an organization to shutter down. After a bit of restructuring and load shedding, it is back and is now even challenging Google’s one of the most used products – Android.

The report suggests that Nokia’s X60 series – comprising Nokia X60 and X60 Pro, slated to launch later this year could be the first devices that would ship with HarmonyOS out of the box.

While HMD Global, which makes the Nokia branded phones, might continue shipping devices with Android, however, this new parent ship could mean that the company is looking to try different solutions for its phones and probably stick with the one that suits best.

That said, HarmonyOS doesn’t have support for Google Mobile Services (GMS) and that might be a limitation when it comes to devices intended for global markets. This means either the phones may be limited to China or may force the companies to look for alternate solutions to let people use Google services on their phones organically.

In any case, a lot of people want to remain de-googled and are unhappy with the excessive data available with the search engine giant. Could HarmonyOS be the solution that these people have been looking for?

Nokia X60, Nokia X60 Pro specs (rumoured) 

Talking about the devices in question, going by the rumours the Nokia X60 series might come with flagship-grade hardware. Looking at the current portfolio of HMD-backed Nokia, the company has not launched a true flagship device for some time. Unlike earlier, the Nokia devices are also struggling to get timely OS updates.

Hence, in an ideal world, the Nokia X60 series could be the phone that everyone has been waiting for. The reports hint at the presence of a 200MP primary sensor, curved display, a huge 6000mAh battery pack and a secondary display located at the rear. The leaked images show a triple camera setup at the back and a solo selfie camera housed under a punch-hole cutout.

However, since these are early days, we need more information coming from authentic sources to be able to take Nokia and Huawei collaboration seriously. Till then, let us just enjoy the endless possibilities and risks that such a collaboration could offer.

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