India has announced a new mobile operating system called BharOS that has been created at an engineering university over there.
BharOS, which stands for Bharat Operating System, is based on Linux and does not come with pre-installed apps.
Reportedly, the Indian government claims that this system is more secure than Android, and is intended for use in commercial and high-security environments.
It only allows users to access apps from trusted private stores.
Professor V. Kamakoti, Director of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, said in an interview that it is a Linux-based operating system.
Android and iOS are currently the most widely used mobile operating systems in the world.
Android, which has been developed by Google for more than 15 years, is an open-source system that is used by many different manufacturers such as Samsung, Xiaomi, Transsion (iTel, TECNO, and Infinix), and others.
It is known for its customizable features and wide range of available apps – but that discussion has passed because the two platforms have extensively matured.
It might not be easy for BharOS to gain market share in a space where Android is the dominant player, with around 97% of the 620 million smartphones in India running on it.
The number of smartphone users in India is estimated to reach over 800 million in 2023, with the number of smartphone users worldwide forecasted to exceed to 1.5 billion users in 2040.
