Huawei is staging what would be the comeback of the century. The company was hit hard by US sanctions, which saw the company lose its position as the second largest smartphone manufacturer in the world.
Huawei has been hard at work over the past few years, licking its wounds and working on a comeback. The solution was to reduce reliance on Western technology which can apparently be taken away with a pen stroke by a U.S. government bureaucrat.
The first sign that Huawei had a realistic shot to rise again was the launch of the Huawei Mate 60 series last year. The major coup which stunned the world was Huawei’s ability to produce an advanced chip despite the US government’s strict measures to curb China’s access to essential semiconductor technology.
So, Huawei followed up that ability to develop advanced chips with this year’s announcement of Harmony OS NEXT. We talked about the software here: Is HarmonyOS Next Huawei’s Answer to the Android-iOS Dominance? It’s a Big Ask, But We’re Rooting for It.
The time has come, Huawei has released a phone running this new software. Which you will recall no longer has any Android fragments, it is 100% different from Android now and won’t run Android apps like the old Harmony OS could.
The Mate 70 series is the first by Huawei to run on Harmony OS NEXT. It also runs on a Huawei-developed chip like last year’s Mate 60. So, we’re talking critical hardware and software all built in-house and so cannot be taken away by the West.
Huawei says this is just the beginning because from next year, all its phones and tablets will run on its homegrown operating system.
It looks like Huawei was forced into having the kind of integration that Apple has, designing its own chips and developing its own software. It should make for an interesting next few years. Huawei is really looking into becoming a proper competitor to Android and iOS:
When we migrate … tens of thousands of other apps from the Android ecosystem to HarmonyOS, our HarmonyOS will be truly built and truly become the world’s third mobile operating system in addition to Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android
That said, users outside China should temper their expectations. It might be a little while before these new fully-Huawei phones are good value over here.
The quote continued:
We will first build the HarmonyOS application ecosystem based on the Chinese market and then promote it country by country in the future and gradually promote it to the world.
The Mate 70 series
Seeing as its not going to be a viable purchase for you, here’s a summary of what the Mate 70 series looks like:
- Mate 70: 6.7″ FHD+ display, 50MP variable-aperture camera, 5300mAh battery (66W wired/50W wireless charging), Kunlun glass, IP68 rating.
- Mate 70 Pro: 6.9″ FHD+ display, Wi-Fi 7, 50MP main, 48MP macro telephoto, 40MP ultra-wide, 100W wired/80W wireless charging.
- Mate 70 Pro+: Similar to Pro, enhanced RYYB sensor, 4x optical zoom.
- Mate 70 RS Ultimate: Pro+ specs, titanium frame, premium design.
Huawei didn’t disclose which processor the phones have but speculation is that it is the Kirin 9100.
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