According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), Huawei will launch its highly anticipated domestic mobile operating system - HarmonyOS Next on October 8.
The Chinese telecoms giant sees it as an alternative to Apple's iOS and Google's Android. Huawei has also been gathering domestic tech companies to build a Chinese mobile ecosystem, in an effort to boost its competitive position.
From October 8, HarmonyOS Next will be available on Huawei's Mate 60 series, Mate X5 foldable smartphone, and 13.2-inch MatePad Pro tablet.
HarmonyOS Next, which Huawei emphasizes is developed completely independently, no longer supports Android-based applications and is called "purebred" HarmonyOS in China.
Before the official launch, Huawei also introduced this mobile platform to application developers in China. They also had a big meeting with many local partners, including big names like Baidu, JD.com, Meituan and Tencent Holdings to support the development of this operating system.
According to Huawei, more than 10,000 native apps and services have been developed for HarmonyOS Next.
Huawei first introduced its proprietary Harmony system in 2019 and deployed it on some smartphones the following year. However, the US soon imposed restrictions to block HarmonyOS' access to Google's technical support system, posing significant challenges for the company.
Domestic mobile platform adoption surged last year after Huawei returned to the 5G phone segment with its Mate 60 series of smartphones.
According to a Counterpoint report in June 2024, HarmonyOS accounted for 17% of China's smartphone market share in the first three months of this year, doubling from the same period last year and surpassing Apple's iOS to become the second largest mobile operating system in mainland China.
Meanwhile, the Android operating system still leads the mobile market share in China with 68%, while iOS only accounts for 16%.
The plan to release HarmonyOS Next comes days after Huawei's CFO Meng Wanzhou, daughter of the company's founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei, took over the company's leadership on a rotating basis.
Ms. Meng, 52, will also oversee the launch of Huawei's next flagship 5G phone, the Mate 70, in the fourth quarter of this year.
