HarmonyOS Next: How Huawei succeeds where Microsoft failed

With over 900 million devices running HarmonyOS since June 2024, Huawei has carved a niche in the phone operating system market, attracting users and emerging as a competitor to Android and iOS. Unlike Microsoft’s unsuccessful Windows Phone project, which was discontinued in 2017, HarmonyOS is showing a promising path for the future.

The 2019 US ban on Huawei from working with American tech companies, including Google, cut off access to the Android operating system for Huawei phones. This significantly impacted Huawei’s phone division, which had previously been one of the top three global smartphone manufacturers alongside Samsung and Apple.

Five years after facing a setback, Huawei is regaining a foothold in the smartphone market with its HarmonyOS. Initially, HarmonyOS leveraged open-source elements from Android, but this is shifting with the upcoming release of HarmonyOS Next.

HarmonyOS initially offered compatibility with many existing Android applications, leveraging the vast Android app library. This reduced the burden on developers who didn’t need to create entirely new apps for a nascent system. This compatibility likely contributed to HarmonyOS’s early user adoption, allowing users to find and run most of their familiar apps.