Huawei’s HarmonyOS NEXT Platform Needs to Develop Its Value Proposition and Attract Ecosystem Support to Ensure Survival

Huawei officially launched an update to its own operating system, HarmonyOS NEXT, in October 2024, marking a decisive separation from the Android ecosystem as, unlike previous iterations of HarmonyOS, the new platform no longer supports native Android applications. Prior to launch, Huawei's HarmonyOS relied on the Android Open-Source Project for core functionality following a block on the company’s use of Google Mobile Services caused by the implementation of US sanctions in 2019, but this has now been discarded to make the platform totally Android-free.

Initially, the new OS will be used on Huawei’s smartphones and tablets with the intention of building a new ecosystem and experience, and the company also aims to turn it into a desktop platform. Indeed, Huawei has stated that its next generation of PCs would remove Windows and instead use HarmonyOS Next. Crucially, to help build the ecosystem and grow share some leading Chinese tech companies have already pledged their support for the platform.

Huawei has been using HarmonyOS in the consumer electronics market since August 2019, in everything from its own smart TVs, smartphones, and tablets, to smartwatches, wireless routers, and IoT devices. The HarmonyOS NEXT version brings a new user interface and experience to the platform mainly through a number of redesigned features. The OS also has increased app security over its predecessor and has additional upgrades offering better graphics, storage, and battery efficiency.

Since 2019, when Huawei faced tightened sanctions as a result of the US-China trade wars, the company has notably retrenched back to the China market and has managed to rebuild supply chains for its own 5G chips and smartphones. This has led to a steady increase in smartphone shipments – Huawei’s global sales dropped from 120 million units in 2021 to just 22m in 2023 but has grown dramatically in China in the past year and is expected to ship 40m+ in 2024. Huawei now intends to build on this revitalization with its new HarmonyOS NEXT ecosystem. Domestic use of the HarmonyOS increased in 2023 following the launch of Huawei’s Mate 60 smartphone line-up, and the upgraded platform is expected to be initially rolled-out to the Mate 60 series, Mate X5 series, and MatePad Pro 13.2-inch series. This roster of smart devices is expected to be added to in 2025, with an upgrade roadmap for existing and new devices expected to include the Pocket, MatePad Pro, Mate XT, and Nova series of smartphone and tablet products.

Despite not being a software company, Huawei seems to have developed the ecosystem quickly, putting the new platform on a variety of devices with ambitions to also adopt the OS as its primary PC operating system sometime in 2025. It is this harmonization across multiple device form factors that could make HarmonyOS NEXT’s value proposition different from alternative offerings, while also providing a better user experience when on its own OS. Huawei sees its long-term future being built around HarmonyOS NEXT and so is investing heavily in the platform with a prime focus on the China market. This will not only help Huawei properly address its sizeable home market but also enable it to perfect the OS and get continued commitment from app developers.

In terms of applications development, in October 2024 Huawei claimed that over 15,000 HarmonyOS native apps and meta-services were launched. While this is an impressive figure in such a short space of time, it is nowhere near the 1m+ apps found on Google and Apple app stores. However, crucially, top Chinese tech companies including payment, shopping, and social media apps, have pledged support for the platform. So far, the list includes Baidu, JD.com, Meituan, Taobao, and Alipay among those who have developed native apps for the OS.

HarmonyOS Next represents China's best push for technological self-reliance amid US sanctions. However, as the sole owner of this operating system, Huawei's monetization strategy remains unclear compared to Google's established Android model. While the platform's value proposition for potential adopters beyond Huawei is still developing, its cross-device harmonization – particularly in smart home and IoT integration – along with deep AI capabilities could emerge as key differentiators.

It is difficult to say where this effort will end up as creating a new mobile operating system and the subsequent application ecosystem is not an easy task. Company initiatives over the past 20 years, such as Nokia’s Ovi Store, Samsung Apps platform (on Bada OS), and Blackberry World App Store have all tried and failed. While getting a mobile operating system up and running is one thing, bringing together the entire supply chain (chipset suppliers, sensors, software stacks, displays, etc.), and enticing developers to create applications and services for the platform is something else entirely. Also, ensuring that the most prominent applications work satisfactorily will be imperative to entice users to the new platform while persuading a switch away from Android or iOS devices.

Key questions remain about HarmonyOS's future ecosystem. Firstly, the potential support from major chipset suppliers like Qualcomm and MediaTek remains undetermined. Secondly, it is unclear yet whether the HarmonyOS ecosystem will be adopted by other smartphone vendors, potentially taken up by the likes of Chinese players such as Xiaomi, OPPO and vivo. Importantly, by retaining elements of open source, the Harmony OS platform enables the rest of the ecosystem to contribute to its development in line with advances and innovation coming from various nodes of the technology supply chain. Moreover, if all Chinese phone makers end up only using HarmonyOS NEXT, most probably just for the China market, then it could spell the end of Android in the country. Consequently, this would mean that worldwide developers who want to break into the Chinese market will have to create apps for the platform.

History tells us that having a dual-OS strategy has not worked well for most smartphone vendors. However, Chinese vendors in particular could well use this strategy as a bargaining tool to strengthen their negotiation power and influence over the Android ecosystem. Nonetheless it would also be difficult to see any of these vendors use the HarmonyOS NEXT platform across their entire range of devices when many aspire to grow their smart devices share further in other established markets outside of China. Perhaps as a home-grown OS, coupled with the surge in affinity for local Chinese “home grown” brands, Huawei is not seeking to have global success and will primarily stick to the China market for now, which is no bad thing given that over 300m smartphones, tablets and laptops are sold in the market each year. The next 12 months will undoubtedly reveal the success of the ecosystem and acceptance by Chinese consumers, measured through growth in shipments of Huawei’s HarmonyOS NEXT devices, including PCs and other device types, continued development of applications and services, and whether other smartphone and PC-makers emerge to use the OS.

Despite current expectations, the platform may eventually break out of the China market once it has reached some level of maturity although there are still many barriers, and many years yet, to be overcome before it can be classed as a global operating system. Notwithstanding the geo-political environment, very few markets now sell Huawei devices outside of China and this may restrict many developers who want to develop on HarmonyOS NEXT. Moreover, Huawei will need to rapidly improve software support and functionality updates for its devices, while also providing better consistency of the user experience, if it is to ever gain traction and globally ship HarmonyOS NEXT devices without complication.