Huawei released HarmonyOS for more than 55 million mobile devices.

Huawei, a Chinese company, restructured after sanctions and now competes with global giants

Since 2019, Huawei Technologies has been subject to severe U.S. sanctions that stripped it of its status as the world's largest smartphone manufacturer. To survive, the firm began developing its own solutions: processors and the HarmonyOS operating system, which is now installed on more than 55 million devices.

These figures were confirmed by Ke Jixing, deputy minister of Industry and Information Technology of China, in an interview with the South China Morning Post. According to him, by the end of March users already had more than 55 million smartphones running HarmonyOS. At a press conference on Tuesday he emphasized that Chinese software developments—from operating systems to databases—are gradually improving, and user experience is getting better compared to the early years.

Market position

- End of 2024: HarmonyOS became more popular than Apple iOS in China.

- Early 2025: According to Counterpoint Research, the only competition for Android remained iOS; HarmonyOS ranked second in market share.

- End of 2025: The introduction of the iPhone 17 lineup into the Chinese market intensified pressure from Apple. The smartphone market was split as follows: Android – 61 %, iOS – 22 % (second place), HarmonyOS – 16 % (third).

Future plans

Ke Jixing noted that China is actively promoting open AI models. Authorities intend to integrate artificial‑intelligence technologies into all sectors of the economy and support the development of an open‑source software ecosystem.