With the launch of the Mate 70 and the foldable Mate X6 smartphones, Huawei has unveiled its latest mobile OS, which it says no longer uses any open source Android code, Bloomberg reports. HarmonyOS Next was allegedly developed entirely in-house as part of Huawei’s plans to create a platform completely free of major American technology sources for both hardware and software.
The Mate 70 series will be available in China on December 4, as a successor to the Mate 60. The latter model was also a landmark as it was the first Huawei smartphone to use a processor made entirely in China, demonstrating that the company can circumvent US trade restrictions. However, Huawei will be limited to 7-nanometer technology for the next few years, while rival Apple is preparing to move to 2-nanometer chips.
Having its own chips and software has long been a goal of Huawei. The company first announced its own operating system back in 2012, predicting that partners like Google “will one day not allow us to use their systems.” Seven years later, the company confirmed that it did indeed have its own operating system, later called HarmonyOS. It still used a lot of open-source Android code, but Huawei claims that the latest version is completely Android-free.
Despite the company’s claims of in-house chip production, it was recently revealed that TSMC chips may have been illegally supplied to Huawei through third-party companies. The US imposed trade restrictions on Huawei after the company tried to steal trade secrets from T-Mobile and circumvent Iranian sanctions.
Huawei said that the new operating system still needs to be finalized for several months to improve the user experience, but the goal is to install it on all future smartphones. Prices for the Mate 70 models will start at $760 for the 6.7-inch version and increase for professional models, with Huawei promising a 40 percent performance boost, partly due to the new OS.
