Huawei has big plans for HarmonyOS, as the company wants to push it to global markets, after its success in China. This is something that the company’s chairman revealed during the Analyst Summit 2024.
Huawei plans to push HarmonyOS to global markets and thus global versions of its phones
The information comes from Xu Zhijun, Huawei’s chairman. Huawei strongly believes that HarmonyOS can become the world’s third option for a mobile operating system. That would be tricky even without the US sanctions, but Huawei seems to be confident.
Before we get any further, let me explain. HarmonyOS is Huawei’s operating system that is not exclusive to phones. It runs on watches and other smart devices. The thing is, it’s not included on global Huawei smartphones.
EMUI runs on global versions of Huawei devices
Globally, Huawei’s smartphones come with EMUI still. EMUI is based on Android, and thus you do get Android OS, but without Google services. In China, the company’s devices do include HarmonyOS. What’s confusing is that the company’s smartwatches, for example, include HarmonyOS globally. I know this is a bit confusing at the moment, but it is what it is.
In any case, Huawei plans to work closely with app developers in order to provide them with all the necessary support. The goal is to build a robust ecosystem for HarmonyOS. The Chinese market will be in focus first.
Huawei says that 99% of users spend their time on 5,000 apps (in China)
What Huawei was able to find out is that 99% of users spend their time on slightly over 5,000 apps. That makes Huawei’s goal rather clear, it will focus on those 5,000 apps first. Following China, it plans to expand that to global markets.
Huawei also noted that around 4,000 apps have already been adapted to HarmonyOS NEXT. It’s not easy to grab the attention of developers, so Huawei sees this as quite a success.
HarmonyOS has reportedly become extremely popular in China. Based on what GSM Arena reported, one source even claims it surpassed iOS in Huawei’s homeland.