The Chinese smartphone maker Huawei has now launched its own operating system – HarmonyOS Next. It is built on OpenHarmony, an open-source project by Huawei, and is completely independent of AOSP. Huawei has long aspired to create fully in-house software for its smartphones and other devices, and that vision has finally become a reality.
When Huawei faced trade sanctions from the US, it lost access to US technologies, including the ability to license Google apps and services. In response, Huawei developed HarmonyOS, an AOSP-based operating system with its own app store. While still using Android as the base, HarmonyOS gradually replaced Google apps and services with its own.
With the new HarmonyOS Next, Huawei is going independent, creating a new OS for mobile phones entirely built from the ground up without relying on Android and Google services. Currently, it is available only for smartphones and tablets in China.
Here’s What You Get With HarmonyOS Next
Just as Apple benefits from owning both software and hardware, Huawei gains a significant advantage with HarmonyOS Next. This tight integration allows for impressive software optimization, fluidity, efficiency, and interconnectivity.
Beyond these core strengths, HarmonyOS Next introduces several visual enhancements, including customizable lock screens and home screens, a redesigned control center, and AI-powered features.
Here are some of its other key highlights:
1. Smooth Animations
Based on early testers and videos, the new OS seems super smooth and fast, with fast opening and closing of multiple apps without any lag or delay, and dense animations, just like the new OxygenOS 15. In fact, some are calling it “the smoothest OS” in the context of smartphones.
2. Live Windows
One of the key highlights is Live Windows, similar to Live Activities on OxygenOS and the upcoming One UI 7. These are interactive widgets that show you a quick glance at ongoing stuff on your lock screen and in a pill-shaped notification at the top, such as the currently playing music. You can directly tap the window and control the music without actually opening the music app.
3. Huawei Share
Huawei also has its own AirDrop-like feature called Huawei Share, which lets you share files with other Huawei users using hand gestures. Choose the file and make a fist gesture with your hand over the screen to “grab” the selected file. Then, move your hand to visually “drag” the file towards the receiving device on the screen and simply open your hand to initiate the transfer.
4. Ark Engine
HarmonyOS Next utilizes an Ark Engine that integrates software, hardware, and cloud functions. This results in 30% better fluency, a 20% reduction in power consumption, and an additional 56 minutes of battery life. In fact, Huawei has optimized the OS so effectively that it now consumes 1.5GB less RAM to operate.
The Ark Engine also helps ensure smooth operation for apps, especially games, delivering fluid graphics and stunning visuals.
5. Xiaoyi AI Assistant
Huawei’s HarmonyOS Next also comes equipped with Xiaoyi, an in-house AI assistant that can be activated through voice or the navigation bar, just like Google’s Gemini on Android. It can understand and answer questions based on-screen content, instantly analyze images and text, and remember information through voice commands and visual inputs.
It also powers Photo Retouching, which removes unwanted objects, background clutter, or people from images. Additionally, Xiaoyi enables audio transcription, quickly converting recordings to text and generating summaries.
6. Star Shield Security
HarmonyOS Next also incorporates Star Shield security architecture. It ensures that apps can only access the data they’re specifically permitted to and uses permissions to protect your privacy. You can also monitor which data your apps access.
What About the App Ecosystem?
The app ecosystem is a major factor for any operating system to flourish, and that could be a big problem for Huawei. Currently, the HarmonyNext ecosystem includes 15,000 apps and services. Rich Bishop, CEO of AppInChina, said that making international developers build apps for the Chinese market is hard because they would make little money.
He further added that even if one frequently used app is unavailable, this would put the user off from buying a Next device. Another challenge that Next adopters will face is the inability to use apps abroad.
Thankfully, users can pick whether their phone comes with HarmonyOS 4.3 or HarmonyOS Next. Folks at GSMArena checked Huawei stores, and customers do have a choice. The phones are sold with different SKU numbers. Some users also mentioned they have the option to stay on the old HarmonyOS or can choose to upgrade to the HarmonyOS Next.
HarmonyNext OS: Availability
HarmonyOS Next was first announced in China on October 22, 2024. It is currently being rolled out to select Huawei phones, and in fact, new models like the Huawei Mate 70 family, Mate X6 foldable, and the new MatePad Pro tablet already ship with the new OS out of the box.
The company has committed that all its smartphones launching in 2025 will ship with HarmonyOS Next. However, this only applies to phones and tablets launched in China. There’s no clarity if HarmonyOS Next will be released globally.
As per the latest November 2024 report from TechInsight, HarmonyOS holds a market share of 15% in China, the same as iOS at 15%. Android’s share stands at 70%. Globally, however, HarmonyOS only had a 4% market share in Q1, according to Counterpoint.
It will be interesting to see whether Huawei brings it outside China and how that impacts the numbers. We’ll be testing the Next OS in depth as soon as we get our hands on it. Stay tuned.
