Huawei's Android-Free Platform Faces Stiff Overseas Challenge

Tech giant Huawei Technologies will launch its fully self-developed mobile operating system next year, but focus will be on the Chinese market. This will be followed by attempts to push the Android-free platform overseas despite the present challenges.

The US-sanctioned Chinese handset maker said last 26 November that all of its smartphones and tablets to be launched in 2025 will run on HarmonyOS Next, the latest iteration of Huawei's self-developed mobile platform that no longer supports Android apps.

The flagship Mate 70 series, launched recently and shipping on 4 December, is the Chinese tech giant's first line of smartphones running on HarmonyOS Next. However, users who wish to can still choose the older, Android-based HarmonyOS 4.3, according to Richard Yu Chengdong, chairman of Huawei's consumer business group.

Huawei's planned roll-out of HarmonyOS Next on all its new devices next year will be "challenging", given the limited pool of compatible apps at the moment, according to Rich Bishop, CEO of AppInChina, which publishes international software in China.

It would be particularly difficult to engage international developers that make little money in China, as they may find the cost of developing and maintaining dedicated versions of apps for HarmonyOS Next too high, according to Bishop.

"If a user isn't able to access even one app that they use on a regular basis, then this is likely to put them off from buying a Next device," Bishop added. "Users will also face substantial challenges when travelling abroad where the vast majority of apps that they'll need to use will not be available on Next."

The HarmonyOS Next ecosystem, in its current state, is "basically usable", with over 15,000 native apps and services as of October 22, Huawei's rotating chairman Eric Xu Zhijun said last week. The company expects the OS to reach "maturity" by achieving 100,000 apps in the next six months to a year, he added.

Huawei has been pushing for the adoption of HarmonyOS Next in an effort to break the dominance of Google's Android and Apple's iOS in China, as the Shenzhen-based company grapples with US sanctions that have barred it from buying US-origin technologies, including software, without Washington's approval.