Tech war: Huawei sees HarmonyOS breaking the dominance of Android and Apple’s iOS in China

Huawei Technologies expects HarmonyOS to break the dominance of Western mobile operating systems in mainland China after its next version ends support for Android apps.

That iteration, called HarmonyOS Next, will be a “China-originated, independent and controllable” operating system, Richard Yu Chengdong, chairman of Huawei’s consumer business group, said at the company’s developer conference on Friday.

The Shenzhen-based company launched at the conference a beta version of HarmonyOS Next for developers, with a beta upgrade for consumers expected in August.

The mobile platform upgrade will be officially launched for commercial use on Huawei’s next flagship 5G smartphone series, the Mate 70, in the fourth quarter this year, Yu said at the conference.

The latest announcements by Huawei show that it is trying to bolster HarmonyOS’ presence in the country, after unseating Apple’s iOS as the second-biggest mobile operating system on the mainland in the first quarter.