Mobile operating system by Huawei
Linux distribution
Huawei EMUI
|
Developer
| Huawei
|
---|
OS family
| AOSP
(
Linux
,
Unix-like
), Classic
HarmonyOS
on
OpenHarmony
L3-L5
convergence
|
---|
Working state
| Discontinued
|
---|
Source model
| Free software
with
proprietary
components
|
---|
Initial release
| July 30, 2012
; 11 years ago
(
2012-07-30
)
|
---|
Latest release
| EMUI 14.2 / April 25, 2024
; 49 days ago
(
2024-04-25
)
,
|
---|
Update method
| Firmware over-the-air
|
---|
Package manager
| Huawei AppGallery
(2012-2024, both Global and China),
APK files
,
.app
(since EMUI 12)
|
---|
Platforms
| 32 and
64-bit
ARM
|
---|
Kernel
type
| Multikernel
, combination of
Monolithic
: modified
Linux kernel
; and HMOS TEE microkernel
(since EMUI 12)
|
---|
License
| GNU General Public License
v3,
Apache License
2.0,
Proprietary
|
---|
Succeeded by
| HarmonyOS
(
HarmonyOS NEXT
),
MagicOS 8
|
---|
Official website
| consumer
.huawei
.com
/en
/emui
/
&
www
.hihonor
.com
/global
/emui
/
|
---|
EMUI
(formerly known as
Emotion UI
, and also known as
MagicOS
(formerly known as
Magic UI
on
Honor
smartphones from 2019-2022)
[1]
was a
HarmonyOS
/
Android (operating system)
mobile operating system
developed by Chinese technology company
Huawei
. It was used on the company's
smartphones
primarily and also
tablet computers
until 2021.
Instead of
Google Mobile Services
, EMUI devices have used
Huawei Mobile Services
, such as the
Huawei AppGallery
, in January 2020 due to
United States sanctions
imposed during the
trade war against China
in May 2019. From Version 13 (2022), Huawei additionally bundled the
HarmonyOS
TEE
microkernel
with the Android system; this microkernel for example handled
identity security
features such as the
fingerprint
authentication
.
[2]
History
[
edit
]
On 30 July 2012, Huawei introduced Emotion UI 1.0, based on Android 4.0. It features a voice assistant app (only in Chinese), customizable homescreens and theme-switching.
[3]
The company rolled out installation files for the Ascend P1 through their website.
[4]
The company claims that it is "probably the world's most emotional system".
[5]
On 4 September 2014, the company announced EMUI 3.0, along with
Ascend Mate 7
in the pre-
IFA
event in Berlin. The user interface was ever since called "EMUI" instead of "Emotion UI". In Mainland China, the release introduces the
Huawei AppGallery
application store
; international markets continued to use
Google Play
.
[6]
In late 2015, Huawei introduced EMUI 4.0, based on
Android Marshmallow
.
[7]
In 2016, EMUI 5.0 was introduced, based on
Android Nougat
.
[8]
In 2017, Huawei introduced EMUI 8.0, based on
Android Oreo
; beginning with this release, the version number would now be aligned with that of the Android version from which it was derived.
[9]
Huawei unveiled EMUI 9.0, based on
Android Pie
, at
IFA
in 2018. Huawei stated a goal for the release to make EMUI more "simple", "enjoyable", and consistent; it included various usability tweaks, reorganized settings menus,
dark mode
, gesture navigation, and GPU Turbo 2.0.
[10]
[11]
[12]
Beginning with EMUI 9.0.1, new Huawei devices ship with the company's
EROFS
file system for its system partitions, which is designed for higher performance in read-only settings on devices with limited resources.
[13]
[14]
[15]
In July 2019, Huawei released EMUI 9.1
[16]
EMUI 10, based on
Android 10
, was announced 9 August 2019 at the Huawei Developer Conference.
[17]
It features an updated interface with larger "magazine"-styled headings, new animations, colour accents inspired by painter
Giorgio Morandi
, and Android 10's system-wide dark mode support.
[18]
Beginning 2020 due to
United States sanctions against Huawei
(which prohibit U.S.-based companies from doing business with the company), new EMUI smartphones sold internationally (beginning with the
Mate 30
) were no longer certified by
Google
, did not include support for
Google Mobile Services
(GMS) including Google Play, and were marketed as running EMUI with no reference to the Android
trademark
. These devices introduced the AppGallery and
Huawei Mobile Services
to international markets as an alternative to Google-provided software.
[19]
[20]
In 2020 alongside the
P40
, Huawei announced EMUI 10.1, which adds multi-window support, and the new first-party apps
Celia
and MeeTime. Huawei announced updates for some of its existing devices in June 2020.
[21]
In September 2020, Huawei publicly announced HarmonyOS 2.0 support with OpenHarmony L3-L5 codebase branch for EMUI 11 updated smartphone devices as the company shifts towards HarmonyOS development. In December 2020, Huawei released the
HarmonyOS
2.0 beta for the P30, P40 and P50, which iterates from EMUI 10.
[22]
From October 2021, Huawei planned to launch an upgrade bridge to EMUI 12 to older Huawei smartphone models gradually in the first half of 2022 in global markets while HarmonyOS 2 launched in domestic markets, thereby preparing EMUI's successor, HarmonyOS, for global markets in the following years.
[23]
EMUI 12 (2022) was the first EMUI version based on
HarmonyOS
2 with a watered down
OpenHarmony
2.1.0 [L3-L5] core branch variant on top of AOSP base which featured its own distributed file sharing called Distributed File System that adapted with HarmonyOS-powered smart devices with smart TVs, smart speakers and other types of devices which was created from native (HDFS) HarmonyOS Distributed File System
[24]
and could run native HarmonyOS Ability Package apps. EMUI 12 supported Large Folders that grouped similar apps in a large folder and named the folder for better organised management and discovery of apps.
[25]
The difference between running
.app
based apps on EMUI 12 and HarmonyOS was that EMUI 12 did not support Atomic Services and App Snippets in the form of interactive visual card based widgets. EMUI 12 also did not support HarmonyOS Multi-Device Task Viewer and had a watered-down Super Device user experience via Device+.
[26]
The EMUI 12 update for older global versions of Huawei smartphones was based on Android 10.
[27]
On 20 October 2022, Huawei unveiled EMUI 13 on their official website.
[28]
It inherited the main features unveiled with HarmonyOS 3, such as widgets that can be stacked on top of one another or folders that can be resized like Android widgets.
Independent Honor, MagicOS 8 with Android 14 reported on 21 July 2023 for delayed November launch, which was eventually launched on January 10, 2024.
[29]
[30]
HarmonyOS 4.0 was released on 4 August 2023. EMUI 14 was demonstrated on Mate 60 RS Ultimate Edition at MWC Barcelona 2024 via
Huawei
's booth, Barcelona, Spain on February 27, 2024.
[31]
On, 5 March 2024, Huawei Germany announced the EMUI 14 beta program for 13 global smartphone models that comes with
HarmonyOS 4
features. The rollout reportedly, is planned for summer, between June 6 till 25 2024 release on nine models along with Nova 11i models on July 3, 2024,
[32]
also newer
Huawei Mate 60
and P70 flagships bundled with the new software.
[33]
[34]
On April 25, 2024, Huawei rolled out EMUI 14.2 with no major new features such as AI features on HarmonyOS 4.2 Chinese variant, features system stability in Russia with countries planned to follow suit shortly.
[35]
Version history
[
edit
]
Version
|
Android
/
HarmonyOS history
|
Year of release
|
Last stable release
|
Emotion UI 1.x
|
Android 2.3 - 4.3
|
2012
|
1.6
|
Emotion UI 2.x
|
Android 4.2 - 4.4
|
2013
|
2.3
|
EMUI 3.x
|
Android 4.4 - 5.1
|
2014
|
3.1
|
EMUI 4.x
|
Android Marshmallow
(6.x)
|
2015
|
4.1
|
EMUI 5.x
|
Android Nougat
(7.x)
|
2016
|
5.1
|
EMUI 8.x
|
Android Oreo
(8.x)
|
2017
|
8.2
|
EMUI 9.x
MagicUI 2.x
|
Android Pie
(9)
|
2018
|
9.1
|
EMUI 10.x
MagicUI 3.x
|
Android 10
|
2019
|
10.1
|
EMUI 11.x
MagicUI 4.0
|
Android 10
|
2020
|
11.0
|
EMUI 12.x
MagicUI 5.2
|
Android 10
(for existing legacy devices),
Android 11
(for devices that pre-shipped with EMUI 12) and
HarmonyOS
2 (China) microkernel (OpenHarmony 2.1.0 L3-L5 Dual Frame)
[36]
|
2021
|
12.0
|
EMUI 13.x
[37]
|
Based on HarmonyOS 3 (OpenHarmony 3.1 L3-L5), Android version:
Android 12
|
2022
|
13.1
|
EMUI 14.x
[38]
|
Based on HarmonyOS 4 (OpenHarmony 3.2 L3-L5), Android version:
Android 12
|
2024
|
14.2
|
Reception
[
edit
]
Earlier versions of EMUI have been criticized for placing all app icons on the home screen, with some reviewers saying that it tries to imitate Apple's
iOS
. The app drawer has been brought back as an option in EMUI 5.0.
[39]
PC Magazine
's
Adam Smith criticized EMUI for being
bloated
with duplicate apps and the settings menus being difficult to navigate.
[40]
EMUI lacks support of AptX and SBC-XQ, which limits audio quality on Huawei devices.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Wright, Arol (18 November 2019).
"Android 10-based Magic UI 3.0 update rolls out for the Honor View 20 and Honor 20"
.
XDA Developers
. Retrieved
6 December
2019
.
- ^
Barcza, Marton (30 June 2021).
"How Huawei plans to take over (HarmonyOS explained)"
.
YouTube
. Retrieved
22 April
2023
.
- ^
Robertson, Adi (1 September 2012).
"Huawei's Emotion UI drops the app drawer, adds beginner-friendly features to Android 4.0"
.
The Verge
. Retrieved
8 January
2018
.
- ^
Smith, Mat (30 August 2012).
"Huawei shows off early version of Emotion UI for Android, packs a 'stock' skin too (hands-on)"
.
Engadget
. Retrieved
8 January
2018
.
- ^
"Huawei's new Emotion UI gets its own Chinese official website, should be up for download soon"
.
Android Authority
. 3 July 2012
. Retrieved
8 January
2018
.
- ^
Arora, Hitesh (4 September 2014).
"Huawei Launches Metal-Clad Ascend G7 With Android 4.4 KitKat at IFA"
.
NDTV Gadgets360.com
. Retrieved
8 January
2018
.
- ^
Martonik, Andrew (26 November 2015).
"Huawei announces Mate 8 in China, sporting Marshmallow and Kirin 950 processor"
.
Android Central
. Retrieved
8 January
2018
.
- ^
Gondhia, Nirave (4 November 2016).
"What's new in EMUI 5?"
.
Android Authority
. Retrieved
8 January
2018
.
- ^
"Top 5 tips and tricks for getting the most out of EMUI 8"
.
Android Central
. 29 December 2017
. Retrieved
16 April
2021
.
- ^
Gordon, Scott Adam (1 September 2018).
"Huawei announces Pie-based EMUI 9.0 at IFA 2018: find out what's new here"
.
Android Authority
. Retrieved
18 August
2019
.
- ^
"Clean, Current & Custom: Here's what's new with EMUI 9.0"
.
TechCrunch
. 18 August 2019
. Retrieved
18 August
2019
.
- ^
"Have you tried the new Dark Interface from EMUI 9 | HUAWEI Support UK"
.
consumer.huawei.com
. Retrieved
16 April
2021
.
- ^
Michael Larabel (19 November 2018).
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.
Phoronix
. Retrieved
13 December
2018
.
- ^
Xiang, Gao (31 May 2018).
"erofs: introduce erofs file system"
.
Linux kernel
(Mailing list)
. Retrieved
13 December
2018
.
- ^
Xiang, Gao (4 July 2019).
"erofs: promote erofs from staging"
.
Linux kernel
(Mailing list)
. Retrieved
3 September
2019
.
- ^
"Huawei releases EMUI 9.1 update roadmap"
.
GSMArena.com
. 24 June 2019
. Retrieved
18 August
2019
.
- ^
John H. Jr. (9 August 2019).
"Huawei announced the EMUI 10 at HDC 2019"
.
Huawei Central
. Retrieved
18 August
2019
.
- ^
"Huawei EMUI 10 update: What's new and when will it come to your phone?"
.
Pocket-lint
. 15 July 2020
. Retrieved
16 April
2021
.
- ^
Warren, Tom (19 September 2019).
"Huawei confirms the new Mate 30 Pro won't come with Google's Android apps"
.
The Verge
. Retrieved
22 September
2019
.
- ^
Porter, Jon (12 May 2020).
"Huawei's P30 Pro gets another rerelease to keep the Google dream alive"
.
The Verge
. Retrieved
16 April
2021
.
- ^
"Huawei announces plans for global EMUI 10.1 rollout"
.
Android Police
. 18 June 2020
. Retrieved
21 July
2020
.
- ^
Amadeo, Ron (2 February 2021).
"Huawei's HarmonyOS: "Fake it till you make it" meets OS development"
.
Ars Technica
. Retrieved
14 February
2021
.
- ^
Sarkar, Amy (30 October 2021).
"EMUIHuawei EMUI 12 launched, rollout start in 2022"
.
Huawei Central
. Retrieved
30 October
2021
.
- ^
Li, Deng (2 March 2022).
"EMUI 12: Distributed file sharing"
.
Huawei Central
. Retrieved
2 March
2022
.
- ^
Sarkar, Amy (14 April 2022).
"EMUIHuawei EMUI 12 Feature: Large Folders [Video]"
.
Huawei Central
. Retrieved
28 August
2022
.
- ^
Lesner, Leszek.
"EMUI 12 vs HarmonyOS - Feature Differences!?"
.
YouTube
. Techview Podcast
. Retrieved
27 August
2022
.
- ^
"EMUI 13 will come with Android 12?"
.
Huawei Central
. 23 July 2022.
- ^
"EMUI 13 - HUAWEI Global"
.
consumer.huawei.com
. Retrieved
31 October
2022
.
- ^
Michail.
"Honor MagicOS 8.0 announced with intent-based UI and platform-level AI"
.
GSMArena
. GSMArena
. Retrieved
11 January
2024
.
- ^
Sarkar, Amy (21 July 2023).
"MagicOS 8.0 (Android 14) eligible devices"
.
HC Newsroom
. Retrieved
2 November
2023
.
- ^
Guison, Duey.
"Mate 60 RS Ultimate Edition Makes an Appearance at MWC 2024"
.
unbox.ph
. unbox.ph
. Retrieved
28 February
2024
.
- ^
Matsui, Emiko.
"Huawei likely to start EMUI 14 stable rollout in June 2024"
.
HC Newsroom
. HC Newsroom
. Retrieved
30 March
2024
.
- ^
Sarkar, Amy.
"Download the EMUI 14 beta app from here"
.
HC Newsroom
. HC Newsroom
. Retrieved
5 March
2024
.
- ^
Matsui, Emiko.
"Breaking: Huawei launches EMUI 14 beta program"
.
HC Newsroom
. HC Newsroom
. Retrieved
5 March
2024
.
- ^
Matsui, Emiko (25 April 2024).
"Huawei surprises users with new EMUI 14.2 update, amid EMUI 14 beta rollout"
.
Huawei Central
. Retrieved
25 April
2024
.
- ^
"EMUI 13 will come with Android 12?"
.
Huawei Central
. 23 July 2022.
- ^
"HUAWEI Mate 50 Pro Specifications - HUAWEI Global"
.
consumer.huawei.com
. Retrieved
9 September
2022
.
}
- ^
Matsui, Emiko.
"Huawei showcased Mate 60 RS Ultimate Design at MWC 2024"
.
HC Newsroom
. HC Newsroom
. Retrieved
5 March
2024
.
- ^
Rutnik, Mitja (25 July 2019).
"What is EMUI? A closer look at Huawei's Android skin"
.
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. Retrieved
7 September
2019
.
- ^
Smith, Adam (24 May 2019).
"Huawei P30 Preview"
.
PC Magazine
. Retrieved
7 September
2019
.
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