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No more Android Huawei devices from next year as Mate 70 launches as first Harmony OS Next-powered device

Leonard Sengere Avatar

Leonard Sengere

Huawei is staging what would be the comeback of the century. The company was hit hard by US sanctions, which saw the company lose its position as the second largest smartphone manufacturer in the world.

Huawei has been hard at work over the past few years, licking its wounds and working on a comeback. The solution was to reduce reliance on Western technology which can apparently be taken away with a pen stroke by a U.S. government bureaucrat.

The first sign that Huawei had a realistic shot to rise again was the launch of the Huawei Mate 60 series last year. The major coup which stunned the world was Huawei’s ability to produce an advanced chip despite the US government’s strict measures to curb China’s access to essential semiconductor technology.

So, Huawei followed up that ability to develop advanced chips with this year’s announcement of Harmony OS NEXT. We talked about the software here: Is HarmonyOS Next Huawei’s Answer to the Android-iOS Dominance? It’s a Big Ask, But We’re Rooting for It.

The time has come, Huawei has released a phone running this new software. Which you will recall no longer has any Android fragments, it is 100% different from Android now and won’t run Android apps like the old Harmony OS could.

The Mate 70 series is the first by Huawei to run on Harmony OS NEXT. It also runs on a Huawei-developed chip like last year’s Mate 60. So, we’re talking critical hardware and software all built in-house and so cannot be taken away by the West.

Huawei says this is just the beginning because from next year, all its phones and tablets will run on its homegrown operating system.

It looks like Huawei was forced into having the kind of integration that Apple has, designing its own chips and developing its own software. It should make for an interesting next few years. Huawei is really looking into becoming a proper competitor to Android and iOS:

When we migrate … tens of thousands of other apps from the Android ecosystem to HarmonyOS, our HarmonyOS will be truly built and truly become the world’s third mobile operating system in addition to Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android

That said, users outside China should temper their expectations. It might be a little while before these new fully-Huawei phones are good value over here.

The quote continued:

We will first build the HarmonyOS application ecosystem based on the Chinese market and then promote it country by country in the future and gradually promote it to the world.

The Mate 70 series

Seeing as its not going to be a viable purchase for you, here’s a summary of what the Mate 70 series looks like:

  • Mate 70: 6.7″ FHD+ display, 50MP variable-aperture camera, 5300mAh battery (66W wired/50W wireless charging), Kunlun glass, IP68 rating.
  • Mate 70 Pro: 6.9″ FHD+ display, Wi-Fi 7, 50MP main, 48MP macro telephoto, 40MP ultra-wide, 100W wired/80W wireless charging.
  • Mate 70 Pro+: Similar to Pro, enhanced RYYB sensor, 4x optical zoom.
  • Mate 70 RS Ultimate: Pro+ specs, titanium frame, premium design.

Huawei didn’t disclose which processor the phones have but speculation is that it is the Kirin 9100.

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7 comments

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  1. T ccoki

    Hmm this should be a game change. If they could focus on countries like africa so we can have an america type exclusive on ur mate 70 id get it like. Srs live voice call gimmie

    Reply
  2. Dead End

    I believe this is the End of Huawei as we know it. The only OS that will dethrone or Compete with Android or IOS is Windows comeback. They already have an edge as an open source on computers. They can make it exclusive to Microsoft Surface Phones but try and optimse there exe. Files to run smoothly on mobile devices. Creating a Mobile based Marketplace for window apps. Android’s Chromebook did something similar buy attempting to go all Computer on android but the major challenge with the chrome os is App optimisation. Most apps run terribly on chromebook. They have a very simple and slick UI. But the UX is not as good as it looks. Companies should really try the Apple Business Model of making some softwares/OS exclusive to their devices. Imagine if Google Made Chromebook and Chrome OS Exclusive to The Google Notebooks. That would have been awesome and they would have taken enough time to perfect their product. The chromebook feels half baked. That will be the similar case with Harmony. Are they going to be able to convince developers to make apos for them. Remember Meta is an American company. Microsoft is an american company. TikTok despite being Chinese is now registered as an American company as well which will bind them to some legal obligations. So they’ll only be able to convince the Chinese Market. And maybe the Indian Market aswell due to their habits of modifying apps and jailbreaking devices. But as for the global marketing. I don’t think they’ll be able to convince us.

    Reply
    1. B Moyo

      Empires rise and Empires fall, Britain was once the workshop of the world, controlling 2/3 of the world, but they’re a almost a third world country now.

      China’s time has come and it’s unstoppable.

      BYD recently beat Tesla on revenue, you’ll have chest pains.

      Reply
      1. Meh

        Meh. Harmony OS is useless to me without google services. I’m sure there are other apps out there that are deal breakers to many that won’t be on HOS for a while, if ever. At least not without some hack or emulation layer.
        Empire what what’s… F that noise. I’m never going to accept some stupid excuse like “if britain did it, ccp should did too”. Thats the kind of thinking that’s giving everyone with a nuke itchy trigger fingers.
        BYD making money is cool. They are apparently the one chinese automaker thats making a good effort to make a go of it. They just need stop making some of the disposable vehicles they’ve been dumping in markets all over.

        Reply
      2. Raymond

        Actually China is a struggling economy, its time is over. What the guy is saying is that is a huge gamble moving from an ecosystem with a lot of apps. Maybe the want to supply the Chinese market only.

        Reply
        1. Niqqa

          Huawei before the sanctions era in 2019 in terms of mobile technology they were far ahead in terms of their capabilities, they were the best smartphone manufacturer in terms of sales surpassing Apple and Samsung in 2020 their launch of the P30 pro and Mate 40 was just brilliant that America felt threatened. The only thing that can stop them is China in terms of the controversies that Chinese companies face eg Bytedance and ticktock. The fact that it took Huawei just 3 years to create their own kernel and operating systems file extensions and possibly APIs is just amazing such is not an easy feat, what Americans do China does it better Huawei developed 5g they found ways to discredit it raising health concerns when we know the frequency 5G operates with is harmless 😂😂. Huawei is coming imagine they created a 7nm processor without using TSMC the reason of uptake of Huawei devices is Hardware-Software compatibility but without limitations of eg Apple’s. Remember Huawei has Oppo Xiomi Oneplus and others that arent OEMs Remember is Huawei bring those companies on board everything becomes interesting provided Xiomi is now currently second best smartphone seller in the world. Don’t write off Huawei its just the beginning

          Reply
    2. David John

      So all Huawei products outside of China 🇨🇳 will become useless as they can’t run android apps

      Reply
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