Huawei's proprietary operating system (OS), Hongmeng (Harmony), ranked second in China's smartphone market for the sixth straight quarter, overtaking Apple's iOS.
The South China Morning Post (SCMP) in Hong Kong reported, citing data from market research firm Counterpoint Research, that Hongmeng's second-quarter OS share in China reached 17%, ahead of Apple's iOS (16%) and placing second. Google's Android led with a 66% share.
Counterpoint Research analyzed that Hongmeng's growth momentum continues, noting that Huawei's Nova series and the foldable Pura X drove Hongmeng's strengthened competitiveness. However, in the global market, Hongmeng stood at 4%, showing a big gap with iOS (17%), while Android held a 79% share.
After transactions with Google were halted in 2019 due to U.S. sanctions, Huawei independently developed and unveiled Hongmeng, and last year it also released a "Hongmeng Next" version that is not compatible with Android apps. In addition, at the recent "Huawei Connect" event, Huawei announced it would invest 1 billion yuan (about 196 billion won) to support application development based on Hongmeng.
To reduce technology dependence, Huawei has been continuously pursuing plans to build its own ecosystem, and recently unveiled a release roadmap for its "Ascend" series of AI chips equipped with in-house developed high-bandwidth memory (HBM).