Huawei’s mobile OS will overtake Apple’s iOS in China this year, according to an industry analyst. If this is the case, then Apple will lose its position as the dominant smartphone operating system in China, alongside Android.
“Huawei’s Harmony operating system will overtake Apple’s iOS this year to become the second-largest smartphone operating system in China,” Canadian technology research firm TechInsights said in a report released Wednesday.
According to Tech Insights, global smartphone sales are also expected to increase by around 3% this year compared to last year (for further reading High-end smartphone: good work in 2023, growth forecast in 2024) .
An OS without Google applications
While Apple’s Android and iOS mobile operating systems are still the two dominant players in the Chinese market today, Huawei’s Harmony OS is expected to establish itself on the Chinese market in 2024.
Tech Insights points out that Huawei and HarmonyOS are releasing a version of HarmonyOS Next this year that does not support Android applications. “If last year was the year of Harmony native applications, this year will be a pivotal year for the overall evolution of the Harmony ecosystem,” said He Gang, director at Huawei.
After Harmony OS was announced in August 2019, the latest version, 4.0, was released in August last year. In September 2023, Huawei CEO Yu Chengdong said that “the next version will be the start of Harmony OS Next.” Native Harmony OS apps, which are not compatible with Google apps, will be smoother, smarter and more secure, according to Huawei.
Towards native Harmony OS mobile applications
Note that several mobile application companies in China are already developing native Harmony OS applications.
According to Huawei, the number of devices in the Harmony ecosystem has already exceeded 700 million, and developers or partners in 18 areas, including gaming, social media, communications, travel, transportation and office, develop native applications for Harmony OS.
Huawei’s in-house mobile operating system, called Hongmeng in China, follows a de facto embargo from the American administration. Washington accuses Huawei of collusion with the Chinese regime and of constituting Beijing’s false nose in American telecommunications networks.
For its part, the Chinese manufacturer, which always denies any collusion with the Chinese regime, continues to maintain that this inclusion on the American “blacklist” is above all motivated by political reasons, which have nothing to do with the national security of the United States.
Source: “ZDNet Korea”