Science and Tech

Huawei is ousting Apple right where it hurts most: it does not stop selling high-end mobile phones in China

With HarmonyOS NEXT Huawei has achieved something incredible. Neither Samsung, Microsoft nor Mozilla achieved it

Huawei phones are making a big comeback. The recent presentation of the Huawei Mate 70 has been one more sign of the ambition of a manufacturer that seemed doomed but that has turned the tables in a spectacular way.

Telephoning. Huawei’s new flagships—accompanied by the foldable Mate X6—stand out for their design and notable specifications. The OLED panel, its 5,300 mAh battery and a new set of cameras that promise a lot. However, the big difference lies in something else.

HarmonyOS NEXT. The new operating system of these terminals, called HarmonyOS NEXT, says goodbye to dependence on Android. It is a platform created from scratch and is not even compatible with Android applications. Huawei thus definitively separates its path from that of Google, something that is a true turning point for the future of its terminals.

It all started with the Mate 60 Pro. These new devices follow the controversial Mate 60 that attracted so much attention last year. Analysts did not quite understand how Huawei had achieved an advanced chip for these terminals taking into account the restrictions of the trade war between the US and China.

Huawei is conquering the high-end. This terminal has consolidated the brand’s prominence as a reference in the high-end range in China. According to there Huawei’s market share in phones over $600 has gone from 11% in the third quarter of 2022 to 33% in the same period of 2024.

And meanwhile, Apple is down. Until then, Apple dominated that sector in China, but in that same period its situation has changed in reverse: its share was 72% in the third quarter of 2022, and in the same period of 2024 it is 52%. It is still an exceptional quota, but at this rate Apple’s dominance may change in the short term.

Quite a resurrection. What is happening with Huawei is fundamentally due to its success in China, where the brand has apparently become a true national success story. Google’s veto imposed in 2019 seemed to spell the death of its smartphone division, but the company has managed to reverse the situation by focusing on the Chinese market and freeing itself from the dependencies that previously tied it to American companies. The result is visible: Huawei shines again in high-end mobile phones, at least in China.

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