With its new operating system, Huawei definitively frees itself from Android

Once again a major player in the Chinese smartphone market, Huawei is once again ambitious. With the launch of its new 5G smartphone, the Mate 70, on Tuesday, November 26, the Shenzhen group hopes to popularize the first mobile operating system entirely developed in China.

Adieu la version open source d’Android

Called HarmonyOS NEXT, this mobile OS has been officially available since the end of October in the country. But Huawei does not communicate on the number of people who have installed it on their smartphone. The arrival of the Mate 70, which follows the very popular Mate 60, marks a first major test.

Targeted since 2020 by heavy American sanctions, Huawei can no longer install the version of Android incorporating Google services on its smartphones. The brand therefore had to build its own operating system. But early versions of Harmony relied primarily on the open source version of Android (AOSP). This had a major advantage: the applications remained compatible.

Only 15,000 applications

By launching HarmonyOS NEXT, Huawei is therefore taking a risk. At the moment, the OS only has around 15,000 applications on its store, compared to more than 3 million Android applications. Company executives promise 100,000 apps by “six to twelve months”making it possible to meet the most frequent uses.

Already low, the number of available applications also hides the absence of certain features. According to the Financial Times, this is particularly the case with the integration of WeChat Pay, Tencent’s mobile payment system used by around a billion people in China.

Three million pre-orders

Huawei assures that the transition to an in-house OS is essential to protect itself from new restrictions. The group also highlights advantages: performance increased by 30%, battery life extended by one hour and 1.5 GB less memory dedicated to the OS.

The Mate 70 is the smartphone “the most powerful” never launched by Huawei, promises the brand, without giving further details. Like its predecessor, it should be equipped with a system on a chip engraved in 7 nm by the Chinese founder SMIC. A million copies were reportedly produced for the launch, while three million pre-orders were made.