Huawei launches phones that run on self-developed operating system

SHENZHEN -- Chinese tech giant Huawei on Tuesday launched a series of smartphones capable of running on HarmonyOS NEXT, the company's self-developed operating system built independent of Android architecture.

HarmonyOS NEXT was released on Oct 22. Its fully independently developed features include its own operating kernel, database, programming language and AI framework.

Thanks to HarmonyOS NEXT and new hardware configurations, the performance of several new-model smartphones has been improved by 40 percent compared to certain models released in 2023, according to Yu Chengdong, Huawei's executive director.

Data from Huawei shows that as of Oct 22, more than 15,000 HarmonyOS applications and meta-services had been developed and made available to users, covering 18 vertical areas of daily life, such as mapping, payment, shopping, social networking, short videos, transportation and finance.

All new products released by Huawei, including smartphones and tablets, will be equipped with HarmonyOS NEXT from 2025, Yu said.