Huawei Watch 3 with Harmony OS might launch next week

The next few months will be critical to Huawei's survival in the mobile business. It already lost its footing in the world's Top 5 smartphone makers and its future will largely rest on whether its Harmony OS can carry it through its Google-free period. That, in turn, will depend on what Harmony OS will really be and we won't know until next week when it finally launches for the public to see. Apparently, it won't be coming alone and Huawei plans to launch the Huawei Watch 3 beside it.

Huawei has been trying to sell the idea of Harmony OS as the one OS to rule all smart devices. Version 1 of the operating system was already distributed on some of Huawei's smart TVs in China but its real test will be on mobile and, apparently, wearables. We won't have to wait long for the latter even as we wait for the former's arrival in the Huawei P50.

The company scheduled an event on June 2 to formally unveil Harmony OS to the world, showcasing what it's capable of, particularly in consumer devices. Now it has also confirmed on Weibo that June 2 will also be the date that the Huawei Watch 3 will launch and it is likely that it will be running Harmony OS.

This shift from Huawei's Lite OS on its previous smartwatches will be an important one for Harmony OS. If successful, it will prove to the public just how well the platform can be adapted to various form factors and devices. It will also prove if it has a better app ecosystem, something that its other homegrown wearable OS was not exactly famous for.

Not much yet is known about the Huawei Watch 3, given few expected it to arrive so soon. Based on Huawei's teaser, it will have a crown button, not unlike the Apple Watch. Other leaks also point not just to a circular screen but a circular list of apps, not unlike Samsung's Tizen which may be taking a different form now that it will be using Wear OS instead.