Huawei's Move Towards HarmonyOS: What It Means for Future PCs
As geopolitical tensions and sanctions reshape the tech industry, Huawei is taking bold steps to become less reliant on foreign technologies.
This shift marks the beginning of a new era for the company, especially in the PC market. In this article, we explore Huawei's transition from Windows to HarmonyOS, its in-house operating system, and what this means for users and the broader tech landscape.
Huawei is seemingly ready to ditch Windows for its next-gen PCs in favor of the HarmonyOS software system. One of the company’s executives has confirmed that the current laptops could be the last batch running on an external operating system.
Yu Chengdong, the Huawei Consumer Business Chairman, attended a live broadcast on September 20. During the interview, he mentioned that the next-generation Huawei PCs will launch with pre-installed HarmonyOS software instead of Windows.
The Chairman emphasized that Huawei has to drop Windows support following the U.S. ban. The company was blacklisted in the U.S. in 2019, and since then, it has continued to face challenges acquiring advanced technologies, chipmaking tools, and enhanced software.
Now, Huawei aims to become self-dependent by introducing a new operating system free from foreign components. As a result, the current Matebook products could be the last batch running Windows, with HarmonyOS soon to be introduced on Huawei PCs.
Yu further explained that Huawei began reducing its dependency on foreign parts long ago. The upcoming hardware and software products will reflect this shift, aiming for higher efficiency.
The executive also noted that the company had incorporated several American elements in the past. However, after the sanctions, Huawei significantly reduced their usage and is now moving toward completely replacing them. He said the results of this process will become evident in the near future.
During the interview, some netizens remarked that Western x86 (Windows version) has always been unreliable. They expressed hope that HarmonyOS PCs could be efficient for coding and editing tasks, adding that "Mr. Yu should bring the new HarmonyOS PC to the market soon."
HarmonyOS has been a significant operating system for various devices, but it was never installed on Huawei's PCs due to the company's previous access to Windows. However, in recent years, Huawei has prepared a backup plan for its notebooks to combat growing sanctions.
It remains unclear whether Huawei will launch HarmonyOS PCs exclusively for the domestic market or make them available to global consumers, as it has done with its tablets and watches. More information will likely be revealed with the official launch of HarmonyOS PCs in the near future.
As Huawei charts a new course with HarmonyOS, its success could inspire other companies facing similar challenges. The tech industry is closely watching to see how this bold move will impact Huawei’s global market presence and whether HarmonyOS can truly compete with established systems like Windows and macOS.
