Huawei HarmonyOS 2.0 tipped to launch with two smartwatches and two tablets

Huawei Watch GT 2 Pro
The Huawei Watch GT 2 Pro. (Image credit: TechRadar)

The US trade ban on Huawei forced it into developing its own alternative to Android, and we're already up to HarmonyOS 2.0. New leaks suggest the software update is going to arrive in June, alongside two new smartwatches and two new tablets from Huawei.

According to in-the-know tipsters on Chinese social network Weibo (via GSMArena), those smartwatches will be the Huawei Watch 3 and the Huawei Watch 3 Pro – the long awaited successors to the Huawei Watch 2 (though we have had other Huawei smartwatches show up in the meantime).

With the introduction of HarmonyOS on these smartwatches for the first time, we've got a revamped user interface to look forward to, and support for eSIMs and cellular connectivity so you can do more from your wrist.

The rumors are that the new Huawei Watch 3 and Huawei Watch 3 Pro will bring more features to the table than the Watch GT 2 models, with some battery life sacrificed along the way. It's also worth noting that those Watch GT 2 wearables ran custom Huawei software too, so the switch to HarmonyOS 2.0 shouldn't be too jarring.

Keep taking the tablets

Onto the tablets we're hoping to see, and they're said to be the Huawei MatePad 2 and the Huawei MatePad Pro 2, following on from the rather impressive original MatePad series which came with a Google-less Android on board.

Previous rumors have pointed to these slates coming with a 12.2-inch and 12.6-inch displays, though we're not quite sure which is which. A speedy 120Hz refresh rate for the screen has been mentioned, as has a 40W charging rate.

The big question will be how HarmonyOS 2.0 stacks up, as the finished operating system hasn't been seen on mobile devices up to this point (a beta is in testing). The big day for all of these reveals is June 2, the tipsters say, so we don't have long to wait to see what Huawei has been working on.

And what of the Huawei P50? We originally thought it would have launched by now, but the latest rumors are pointing to a June release. These most recent leaks only mention smartwatches and tablets though, so it's possible that the launch date of the Huawei P50 has been pushed back further.

David Nield
Freelance Contributor

Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you'll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.