Huawei’s HarmonyOS might quickly overtake Apple’s iOS in China

Now, Huawei might quickly be on the verge of surpassing Apple in a single metric, as its homegrown HarmonyOS working system is poised to overhaul Apple’s iOS in China this yr, in line with the South China Morning Post citing a report from tech analysis agency TechInsights. (iOS and Android, the open-source OS primarily developed by Google, will proceed to dominate the worldwide market).

Huawei’s resolution to develop its personal working system took on higher significance following U.S. sanctions on the corporate. The Chinese language firm initially used the Android working system in its smartphones, but introduced HarmonyOS in August 2019, just some months after the Trump administration added Huawei to the Entity Checklist, which forced the company to get Washington’s approval for any purchases of U.S. expertise. Huawei executives had beforehand described the event of its own working system as a “Plan B,” as the corporate confronted the prospect of being barred from using key {hardware} or software program with U.S. origins.

Huawei’s preliminary success in getting HarmonyOS off the bottom might be an indicator that the Chinese language agency is sustaining its technical experience regardless of U.S. sanctions. Huawei is now gearing up for an additional main transition by getting ready to desert Android fully. Earlier variations of HarmonyOS supported apps developed for Android, but Huawei’s subsequent replace will finish this compatibility, creating what the corporate calls a “pure” working system.

Chinese language tech firms are scrambling to develop HarmonyOS-compatible variations of their apps. Chinese language companies are reportedly ramping up efforts to rent builders for HarmonyOS, together with firms like Alipay owner Ant Group and McDonald’s China.

In August, Huawei mentioned at its annual developer convention that greater than 700 million units presently run on HarmonyOS with greater than 2.2 million third-party builders creating apps for the platform.

Huawei’s comeback

The rise of HarmonyOS can also be coming as Huawei efficiently returns to the 5G smartphone market, symbolized by its surprise release of the Mate 60 Professional in August final yr. The cellphone options a complicated locally-developed 7-nanometer chip, regardless of U.S. sanctions on each Huawei and China’s broader chip trade.

Huawei’s Mate 60 Professional smartphone was a right away success, with state media retailers and commentators proclaiming the cellphone a nationwide achievement. The corporate sold 1.6 million Mate 60 handsets in its first six weeks of gross sales, in line with market analysis agency Counterpoint Analysis.

“The clear standout in October has been Huawei with its turnaround on the back of its Mate 60 series devices. Growth has been stellar with its new launch marketing and strong media coverage around its ‘Made in China’ chipset,” mentioned Archie Zeng, a China analyst for Counterpoint Analysis in a report on the Chinese language smartphone market launched in November.

Huawei captured about 13% of China’s smartphone market in 2023, up from 7.6% in 2022, estimates Ivan Lam, senior analyst at Counterpoint Analysis.

The corporate predicts that it generated nearly $100 billion in gross sales in 2023, up from a current low of $89.6 billion in 2021. “After years of hard work, we’ve managed to weather the storm,” Huawei rotating chairman Ken Hu mentioned to workers in late December. (Nonetheless, the corporate has but to surpass the $137 billion in income reported in 2020).

Huawei’s return might be unhealthy information for Apple, which counts China as certainly one of its most essential abroad markets. Gross sales of Apple’s iPhone 15, which the corporate launched just a few weeks after Huawei’s Mate 60 Professional, underperformed in its first 17 days on sale, in comparison with Apple’s earlier fashions.

Apple can also be contending with new rules from Beijing. Chinese language officers will quickly require all packages bought on Chinese language app shops, together with Apple’s, to have a license from the federal government. Apple could also be compelled to take away hundreds of apps from its Chinese language retailer as soon as the grace period ends in March.