During the Analyst Summit 2024, Huawei’s chairman Xu Zhijun unveiled the company’s strategy for HarmonyOS global expansion. Despite facing US sanctions, Huawei aims to position HarmonyOS as a prominent contender in the mobile operating system arena which is primarily ruled by Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS
Huawei pledged extensive collaboration with app developers, offering comprehensive support, tools, and incentives to cultivate a thriving app ecosystem for HarmonyOS. Initial efforts will concentrate on the Chinese market, where research indicates that a vast majority of users engage with approximately 5,000 apps. Consequently, Huawei prioritizes adapting these key apps before extending them globally.
Progress is evident, with approximately 4,000 apps already adapted for HarmonyOS NEXT, meeting established timelines. However, onboarding additional developers requires ongoing dedication and resources. Xu Zhijun anticipates Huawei will achieve a significant milestone of 1 million apps in the near future. Note that HarmonyOS NEXT does not support Android apps meaning it can’t open Android APKs, hence the deeper need for developers to customize their apps for this specific OS.
Meanwhile, reports suggest that HarmonyOS is rapidly gaining momentum domestically, it is even poised to surpass iOS and become the second most popular mobile operating system in China after Android.
