From Mate70 to HarmonyOS NEXT: Huawei's pursuit of technological independence

by Lu Keyan

Huawei officially launched the Mate70 series on November 26, with prices starting at 5,499 yuan and availability beginning December 4. The series underscores Huawei's commitment to advancing HarmonyOS NEXT, its native operating system designed to establish an independent software ecosystem.

To bridge current gaps in app compatibility, the Mate70 ships with HarmonyOS 4.3, which is compatible with Android. This dual-system strategy allows Huawei to transition users smoothly while continuing to grow and refine the HarmonyOS NEXT ecosystem. However, Huawei plans to equip its 2025 devices exclusively with the native HarmonyOS NEXT system.

Over 15,000 apps and meta-services have been adapted for HarmonyOS NEXT, but key applications like community and enterprise systems are still in progress. Huawei aims to adapt 100,000 apps within a year to establish ecosystem maturity. To drive adoption, Huawei is encouraging user feedback and providing incentives like app membership perks.

A rallying cry for HarmonyOS

In September, at the headquarters of Chinese telecom giant Huawei in Shenzhen, a scene unfolded that few would have anticipated in the annals of China’s internet history.

Executives from some of the country’s biggest tech players—Baidu, Tencent, Alibaba, JD.com, and Meituan—arrived in unison, each wearing standardized company outfits. They assembled for a “pledge rally,” a quintessential Huawei tradition aimed at stirring up morale before major product launches or strategic decisions. But this rally wasn’t just about Huawei; it was about HarmonyOS, Huawei’s operating system, known locally as “Hongmeng.” For the internet giants present, the mission was clear: develop Harmony-native versions of their apps and roll them out by the end of the year.

For Huawei, HarmonyOS is more than just a technical venture—it is a testament to Chinese technological resilience and independence. Often hailed as “China’s first homegrown mobile operating system,” HarmonyOS has become a defining milestone in Chinese tech history. Major universities like Tsinghua and Fudan now offer courses on HarmonyOS, while vocational training institutions market HarmonyOS development as a golden ticket to job offers. The fervor is palpable, with advertisements declaring, “Miss out on Harmony, miss out on the opportunity of the decade.”

Yet, Harmony’s journey has been fraught with skepticism. From its inception, critics labeled it a mere “re-skinned Android,” a project born out of necessity rather than innovation. However, Huawei has always had grander ambitions for Harmony. Since its early days, the company has poured resources—upwards of ten thousand engineers, thousands of partners, and over a million developers—into HarmonyOS. In 2024, Huawei’s commitment to building a robust Harmony ecosystem is in full force. On October 22, the company officially launched HarmonyOS NEXT, also known as “Pure Harmony,” a version that no longer relies on Android compatibility.

For HarmonyOS, leaving Android compatibility behind is just the beginning of the real challenge.

From IoT to full-fledged OS

Building a mobile operating system was not Huawei’s original plan for Harmony. Initially, Harmony was designed as an IoT-focused OS for industrial applications, targeting the enterprise sector rather than consumers. However, in 2019, Huawei was abruptly cut off from Google services, forcing the company to pivot its Harmony project to mobile devices. Huawei brought together over 2,000 engineers at its Dongguan R&D base to address the fallout. Within five months, Huawei rolled out HarmonyOS 1.0, a basic version primarily designed for use on smart screens—earning the nickname “the PowerPoint OS” for its rushed release.

A year later, HarmonyOS 2.0 debuted for smartphones, but Android compatibility persisted. This wasn’t simply a fallback strategy; for Huawei, it was a practical move to ensure user experience and maintain continuity. However, the Android dependency continued to be a sticking point, preventing Harmony from fully breaking into its own.

In 2023, fortunes shifted. Huawei’s Mate 60 series hit the market and achieved runaway success, reclaiming Huawei’s market share. With a growing user base, the Harmony team sensed the timing was right to pivot fully to a native OS. As one engineer involved in Harmony development put it, “We’d been building up Android-based compatibility and custom features over the past three years. Now, we had the confidence—and the market demand—to make the jump.”

A “pure blood” HarmonyOS

Dubbed “Pure Blood Harmony” by the tech community, HarmonyOS NEXT was launched with a bold premise: no Android compatibility whatsoever. For Huawei, this was the defining moment. Unlike most OS ecosystems that are limited to a single device type—iOS for phones, Windows for PCs—Harmony’s microkernel design allows it to span multiple hardware categories, from wearables to home appliances, creating a unified ecosystem.

This strategic decision aligns with Huawei’s vision of achieving seamless integration between software and hardware, similar to the Apple model. Yet there’s a twist: while Apple relies on tightly controlled, proprietary products, Harmony aims to foster cross-device compatibility on a mass scale. Huawei’s goal is not just to match Apple but to bring the same hardware-software integration to smart homes, vehicles, and beyond.

This promise has won over both developers and consumers. Huawei has actively courted developers by offering hands-on support, financial incentives, and enhanced profit-sharing structures. Major apps like WeChat are already available in a Harmony-native version. According to Huawei, more than 15,000 applications have been “harmonized,” covering nearly 99 percent of daily user activity.

Nevertheless, building a thriving ecosystem is no small feat. Every application needs to be re-engineered for the new system. Tencent, for instance, noted that the shift to Harmony required a complete rewrite of WeChat using a new language known as ArkTS. “This isn’t just a cosmetic update,” a Tencent representative explained. “With a whole new framework, it’s like building an app from scratch.”

Challenges beyond the domestic market

As much as Huawei has set its sights on capturing domestic users, Harmony’s potential impact hinges on its ability to scale internationally. Huawei has long spoken about Harmony’s role as a middleware that can bridge the gaps between diverse hardware ecosystems. But as CHEN Haibo, chief scientist in Huawei's software field and one of Harmony’s foundational architects, pointed out during an interview with Jiemian News in September, there are challenges ahead in gaining acceptance abroad. The global smartphone OS landscape is entrenched, dominated by Android and iOS. Breaking through will require more than technical prowess. It demands sustained user interest and an ever-evolving ecosystem of compatible apps.

Still, Huawei is doubling down. With more than 60 billion yuan (US$ 8.41 billion) annually earmarked to support Harmony-related innovation, the company is placing heavy bets on the ecosystem’s expansion. And it’s paying off—at least for now. Over a million users have already signed up for Harmony’s open beta, and developers are keeping up a blistering pace, with some apps updating as frequently as once a day.

To navigate this period of transition, Huawei is currently maintaining a dual-system approach, allowing users to toggle between Android-compatible HarmonyOS 4.0 and HarmonyOS NEXT. This strategy aims to ease users into the new ecosystem without alienating those accustomed to Android compatibility. However, insiders say this dual approach is only temporary. The goal is clear: to have Harmony stand on its own as China’s first globally viable, independent operating system.

An ecosystem takes root

For Huawei, Harmony’s success isn’t just about operating systems. It’s about creating a deeply rooted ecosystem that transcends individual devices, bringing together everything from home appliances to smart city infrastructure. Huawei insiders echo a sentiment frequently voiced within the company: ecosystems thrive not by sheer force of funding, but by constant usage and feedback. As one Huawei executive puts it, “It’s not just about pouring money in. It’s about growing something people want to use every day.”

To date, over a million users have engaged with Harmony’s beta test, and the company expects the operating system to achieve commercial-scale deployment by the fourth quarter of this year. For developers, the rollout of Harmony’s native app store promises a competitive profit-sharing model, which could provide a much-needed incentive for developers wary of investing in a new system.

Ultimately, Huawei’s vision for Harmony goes beyond mobile screens. The company sees it as a central pillar, a digital “middleware” that connects all facets of technology. For a company still barred from certain Western markets, HarmonyOS stands as a declaration: China’s tech industry can innovate on a global scale, and it no longer needs to play by Silicon Valley’s rules.