Huawei released the Mate 70 series in Shenzhen on November 26, 2024. This series of phones is the first to run Huawei’s new operating system HarmonyOS NEXT.
Huawei
Huawei on Tuesday launched its Mate 70 series of smartphones running the company’s latest homegrown operating system, as the Chinese giant continues its push for technological independence in the wake of U.S. sanctions.
Mate 70 is the successor to the Mate 60 released last year Sensing shockwaves across tech and political circles. It contains what many people believe is that Huawei and It is difficult to produce in ChinaThat comes amid widespread U.S. restrictions aimed at cutting off the world’s second-largest economy from leading chips. Huawei has Separate from Google’s Android operating system In 2019, it forced the Chinese tech giant to develop its own software.
Huawei did not disclose what chip the phone runs, but Yu Chengdong, head of Huawei’s consumer and automotive business, said the Mate 70 can run HarmonyOS NEXT, the company’s first fully self-developed mobile operating system.
Huawei hopes the operating system can become a viable alternative to Android and Apple’s iOS in China. The company’s early versions of HarmonyOS were built using open source Android code.
However, HarmonyOS NEXT reportedly no longer uses this code, marking a major update in Huawei’s software development.
“HarmonyOS Next has huge potential as an alternative in China,” Will Wong, senior research manager at IDC, told CNBC. “This is not only because of Huawei’s brand recognition, but also because it has been working hard to attract developers to its ecosystem.”
The company’s consumer business has been hit hard after various White House restrictions removed the company’s access to critical technology, from chips to software. But with the launch of Mate 60 last year, Huawei’s business recovery in China puts pressure on Apple.
Huawei started taking pre-orders for the device earlier this month and secured more than 3 million pre-orders for the device on a Chinese e-commerce website. This doesn’t necessarily translate into sales.
The company talks about its devices’ artificial intelligence capabilities, including photo editing tools. Smartphone manufacturers are looking to attract customers through: New artificial intelligence tools. In China, domestic players are racing to impress with their artificial intelligence tools Before Apple Intelligence is launched in the country.
There are three varieties of Mate 70 series – Mate 70, Mate 70 Pro and Mate 70 Pro+. The Mate 70 starts at CNY 5,499 ($759), while the Mate 70 Pro+ starts at CNY 8,499.
On Tuesday, Huawei also released its latest foldable smartphone, the Mate X6, with a starting price of 12,999 yuan.
New operating systems take center stage
Over the past year, Huawei appears to have been buoyed by the success of its devices in China and has grown, putting it back among the country’s top five smartphone vendors.
The company has been looking to publicly showcase its technological capabilities, from its tri-fold smartphone launched in September to its HarmonyOS NEXT, to show it won’t be hindered by U.S. sanctions.
In addition to the Mate 70 series and Mate X6 foldable phones being able to run the new operating system, Huawei said some of its older devices will receive software upgrades in the coming months.
The success of an operating system often depends on the suite of applications available to it. At the launch event, Yu demonstrated how artificial intelligence, as part of HarmonyOS NEXT, interacts with popular apps such as Alipay, one of China’s largest mobile payment services.
For now, Huawei’s latest phones, as well as HarmonyOS NEXT, are very much focused on the China market, as the company continues to face growing challenges overseas.
