Huawei has unveiled its latest flagship smartphone, the Mate 70, featuring HarmonyOS Next—a completely homegrown operating system designed to rival Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS. Priced from 5,499 yuan ($760), the Mate 70 aims to provide users with an alternative to traditional OS options, as Huawei strengthens its position against potential sanctions from Washington.
“This is our most powerful phone in the Mate series,” Richard Yu, Huawei’s consumer business chairman, stated at the launch event on Tuesday. Calling the phone a “pure-blooded” Huawei creation, Yu emphasized that the device is entirely the result of in-house engineering, marking a pivotal moment in Huawei’s technological journey. By 2024, all new Huawei phones and tablets will run on HarmonyOS Next, signifying a complete break from Android.
The Mate 70 builds on the success of last year’s Mate 60 series, which surprised industry insiders by delivering advanced chip capabilities despite U.S. restrictions on China’s access to foreign semiconductor technology. Lucas Zhong, research analyst at Canalys, highlighted the significance of the shift, noting that moving away from Android could “solidify consumer loyalty and attract new users,” particularly in the premium market segment.
This transition was fueled by the success of the Mate 60 Pro, which launched in August 2023, sparking renewed interest in Huawei’s high-end smartphones amid intensifying tech competition between the U.S. and China. According to Canalys, Huawei’s share of China’s premium smartphone market has surged from 11% in Q3 2022 to 33% in Q3 2023, while Apple’s share has dropped from 72% to 52%.
Huawei has been navigating a challenging path since the 2019 U.S. export restrictions forced it to adapt, even leading to the sale of its budget mobile brand, Honor. The company’s journey toward an independent OS began with HarmonyOS in 2019, initially compatible with Android apps. Since then, Huawei has devoted substantial resources to creating a robust ecosystem for HarmonyOS, encouraging major Chinese tech firms to hire developers for compatible apps.
In a push to expand the HarmonyOS ecosystem, Huawei aims to reach 100,000 applications within the next year. “A large number of apps and devices are crucial,” stated Eric Xu, Huawei’s former rotating chairman. “If no one uses it, no matter how advanced the operating system is, it will have no value.”
Mengmeng Zhang, senior analyst at Counterpoint Research, expects the Mate 70 series to achieve over 10 million shipments, underscoring that building a competitive ecosystem will require time and community support.
Source: Swifteradio.com
