The US Department of Commerce placed Huawei on the “Entity List” in 2019, which prohibits it from doing business with any US company. This move, among other effects, led to Google revoking Huawei’s Android license. Later, Huawei developed its own operating system, HarmonyOS, for phones and tablets.
And now Wang Chenglu, former Huawei executive and now CEO of Shenzhen Kaihong Digital Industry Development, recently announced on Chinese social media Weibo that HarmonyOS is coming to PCs.
When someone on social media asked if Huawei’s PC version for HarmonyOS would be released next year, Chenglu replied “Yes” to indicate that the PC version of HarmonyOS is planned for 2024. At this point, it’s worth noting that HarmonyOS is called Hongmeng in China and OpenHarmony has been available to some PC testers for a while.
However, no timeline has yet been set for the release of HarmonyOS on PCs. Huawei has chosen not to install HarmonyOS on its MateBook laptop lineup until now, as it still has access to Windows in global distribution.
According to Huawei, HarmonyOS will provide easier connection and seamless experience between devices. This could give some competition to the Windows and Mac operating systems that currently dominate the PC environment.
When considering other operating systems (Android, iOS, macOS, ChromeOS, Linux and others), Windows remains the second most popular operating system, losing its first position only to Android. Windows had a 28.29% market share in April 2023, falling between Android and iOS.
The launch of Huawei’s PC operating system could first start in China before it spreads to other markets. This will follow Huawei’s smartphone strategy using HarmonyOS globally. The company has upgraded more than 100 Android models to HarmonyOS since 2020.
The release of HarmonyOS for PCs will be a significant achievement for Huawei’s operating system goals. However, it may be difficult to gain traction outside of China for the built-in Windows and macOS options that consumers are used to.
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