Yang Yunfei

1017800664@qq.com

HUAWEI Technologies’ mobile platform HarmonyOS has achieved a major milestone, overtaking Apple’s iOS to become the second most popular mobile operating system in the Chinese market, according to a recent report by research firm Counterpoint.

HarmonyOS’ market share expanded to 17% in the first quarter this year, up significantly from 8% in the same period a year earlier, as Shenzhen-based Huawei has made a resurgence with the rollout of its high-end 5G handsets in the Chinese market, the world’s largest with smartphone shipments totaling 271.3 million units in 2023.

It is the first time that Huawei’s homegrown mobile operating system has surpassed Apple’s iOS, whose market share in China dropped from 20% in the first quarter of 2023 to 16% this year, Counterpoint data showed.

Meanwhile, Google’s Android remained the most popular operating system in the Chinese market with a 68% share in the January-March period.

Counterpoint expects HarmonyOS’ market share to grow further “as Huawei focuses on supply chain localization.”

The research firm attributed the decline of iOS’ market share partly to Huawei’s new 5G smartphones, strong competitors to the iPhone.

Huawei overtook Apple in the first quarter as the second largest smartphone vendor in China, trailing Honor Device Co., which was spun off as an independent business from Huawei in 2020.

Counterpoint’s findings mirror a TechInsights report published in January that predicted HarmonyOS’ ascent.

The Canadian research firm also anticipated a robust recovery for Huawei in 2024, as the company’s supply challenges, exacerbated by shortages of Kirin 9000 chipsets, may ease.

Huawei launched its self-developed Android alternative HarmonyOS in 2019, shortly after the United States placed the Chinese tech giant on a trade blacklist that cut off its access to Android.

Under the U.S. trade restrictions, Huawei is prohibited from sourcing software, chips and other U.S.-origin technologies from suppliers without approval from the U.S. government.

While Huawei based the initial versions of HarmonyOS on Android, HarmonyOS Next, the latest version of the operating system, is expected to reach a milestone as it will not support Android-based apps.

Huawei announced open applications for its developer preview version of HarmonyOS Next on Jan. 18 and is widely expected to release a more feature-complete developer beta version during the firm’s developers’ conference scheduled to be held in Shenzhen this Friday to Sunday.

A number of firms, including fintech giant Ant Group, e-commerce firm JD.com, gaming giant NetEase, food delivery firm Meituan and U.S. fast-food giant McDonald’s China unit, are already working to develop apps based on HarmonyOS.

Globally, HarmonyOS’ market share doubled year on year to 4% in the first quarter this year, compared with Android’s 77% and iOS’ 19%, both of which saw slight declines from 78% and 20% respectively in the same period a year ago, according to Counterpoint.