Confirmed: Phones running EMUI 11 will be able to upgrade to Harmony OS

Huawei has revealed that EMUI 11 devices will be eligible for an upgrade to Harmony OS.
There’s no word on specific devices that will be upgraded just yet.

Huawei peeled the curtain back on Harmony OS 2.0 yesterday, marking the second iteration of its homegrown operating system. The company also said it’s aiming to launch smartphones with the new platform in 2021.

Now, a Huawei representative has confirmed to Android Authority that you won’t necessarily have to buy a new smartphone to experience Harmony OS when it eventually comes to mobile devices.

“Yes, devices running the new distributed-technology based EMUI 11 will be eligible for upgrade to Harmony OS in the future,” the representative told us via an emailed response.

It’s unclear if the upgrade to Harmony OS will be available to all devices running EMUI 11 or if Huawei will only offer the upgrade to certain devices running its new Android skin. It’s also unclear if this will be a mandatory change or an optional upgrade. It nevertheless makes for a pretty interesting proposition, and it could be an intriguing alternative platform for Google-free devices like the Mate 30 series and P40 series.

We still haven’t seen Harmony OS 2.0 on a smartphone just yet, so we’re not fully sure what to expect. However, the firm has previously touted cross-device integration and data transfers, smarter voice recognition, and improved security.

Would you upgrade your Huawei phone to Harmony OS if given the choice? Let us know in the poll below!