Huawei showed the new laptop at a closed-door event in Shenzhen, China. Image credit: Weibo/林捂捂 via The South China Morning Post
Huawei Technologies has given a glimpse of its first laptop running self-developed HarmonyOS, after the company’s Microsoft Windows licence expired in March, according to local news media.
The as-yet unnamed laptop, which was shown at a closed-door event in the high-tech and industrial centre Shenzhen, where Huawei is based, runs HarmonyOS Next, the first version of the OS to remove compatibility with Android.
Huawei, the world’s largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer, has been targeted by US trade restrictions since 2019 and has adapted by creating its own silicon and software.
Until recently the company sold Windows-based laptops, along with some with an option to run Linux.
At the same time, Huawei has been developing HarmonyOS for use in smartphones and other devices, gradually shifting away from Android compatibility to create its own ecosystem, as part of China’s broader tech self-sufficiency push.
The new laptop supports a growing array of HarmonyOS smartphone apps and is expected to run more than 2,000 apps by the end of this year, state-backed newspaper Nanfang Daily said.
The laptop prominently features Huawei AI technology, with an AI assistant called Celia that can carry out generative tasks such as summarising the minutes of a meeting or retrieving information from local documents, said state-backed newspaper Securities Times, citing Huawei’s president of tablets and PCs Zhu Dongdong.
Other supported software includes WPS Office, China’s equivalent to Microsoft Office, as well as Alibaba collaboration platform DingTalk, according to Chinese news source ITHome.
Supported mobile apps reportedly include social media app RedNote, video-sharing app Bilibili and ByteDance enterprise collaboration tool Feishu.
The laptop’s interface combines elements of desktop and smartphone systems, with a launcher at the bottom similar to the dock in Apple Mac computers and a home screen that can display icons, cards and folders.
The laptop’s official release is scheduled for 19 May, news media reported.
Zhu reportedly said at the event that Huawei had “fully entered the era of HarmonyOS” for terminal devices.
Last year Huawei launched the Mate 70 flagship smartphone running HarmonyOS Next and in March launched the foldable Pura X phone running the platform.
HarmonyOS overall achieved market share of 19 percent in China from October to December, beating Apple’s iOS for the fourth consecutive quarter, Counterpoint Research said.
iOS held 17 percent during the period in the world’s largest smartphone market, while Android dominated with a 64 percent share, Counterpoint said.
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