Technical Articles
2025-01-13

Comprehensive Overview of Huawei HarmonyOS Ecosystem

“Harmony + Euler” are the two operating systems that Huawei is focusing on developing, which is Huawei’s “soul-casting” project.

Euler not only serves Kunpeng but also supports X86, positioning itself as an operating system for servers, edge computing, cloud, and embedded devices.

Harmony serves smart terminals, the Internet of Things, and industrial terminals, and is more suitable for general public use, mainly used in familiar devices including smartphones, computers, cars, home appliances, etc.

OpenEuler and OpenHarmony ecosystems are interoperable:

Comprehensive Overview of Huawei HarmonyOS Ecosystem

On January 2, 2024, Yu Chengdong announced in a letter to all employees: “2024 is a crucial year for native Harmony, and we must accelerate the development of various native Harmony applications, focusing on winning the two most challenging battles of the technology base and third-party ecosystems.”

Yu Chengdong emphasized the need to build a strong Harmony ecosystem to drive the rise of China’s electronics industry and open a new decade of significant development for terminal futures.

On January 18, 2024, at the Harmony ecosystem launch conference, Harmony officially released HarmonyOS NEXT, also known as Harmony Galaxy Edition. The Harmony Galaxy Edition will achieve six major native experiences: native refinement, native ease of use, native smoothness, native security, native intelligence, and native interconnectivity.

The Harmony ecosystem foundation is continuously maturing. According to Huawei’s official website, the Harmony foundation has over 100 million lines of code and more than 20,000 APIs.

Currently, the number of Harmony ecosystem devices has exceeded 800 million, achieving interconnectivity across various industries and opening up a trillion-level new blue ocean for industries.

The number of Harmony ecosystem devices exceeds 800 million:

Comprehensive Overview of Huawei HarmonyOS EcosystemSource: Huawei Press Conference
01

Development History of Huawei Harmony System

Harmony (HarmonyOS) was officially released by Huawei at the Huawei Developer Conference (HDC.2019) held in Dongguan in 2019 and has now been updated to HarmonyOS 4.0.
In August 2019, Huawei released HarmonyOS 1.0, which was first deployed on smart screens.
In September 2020, Huawei launched HarmonyOS 2.0, the first distributed operating system supporting seamless collaboration across multiple devices. The subsequently launched HarmonyOS 3.0 built full-scene application services, bringing upgrades in super terminals, universal cards, smooth performance, privacy, and security.
In September 2020, Huawei announced that it would donate the Harmony system code to the OpenAtom Open Source Foundation for incubation, also known as the open-source Harmony (OpenHarmony) familiar to developers.
The current version of HarmonyOS is a commercial release developed through continuous iteration and development by Huawei, and it is proprietary to Huawei.
Broadly speaking, Harmony can be divided into two parts: Huawei’s proprietary and open-source.
Comprehensive Overview of Huawei HarmonyOS Ecosystem
In August 2023, Huawei officially launched HarmonyOS 4.0, which uses the brand new Huawei Ark Engine to significantly enhance capabilities in graphics, multimedia, memory, scheduling, storage, low power consumption, etc. On the basis of the previous generation system’s ability to connect with the Beidou satellite system, the new generation Harmony system has achieved an upgrade of the interconnectivity function with the Beidou satellite system.

02

Overview of Huawei Harmony

The Harmony operating system (HarmonyOS) is an intelligent terminal operating system developed by Huawei for the era of the Internet of Everything, providing a unified language for the intelligence, interconnection, and collaboration of different devices.
The Huawei Harmony ecosystem mainly targets the IoT industry, building a 1+8+N full-scene strategy aimed at the Internet of Everything.
The “1+8+N” strategy has a clear positioning.
“1” is the smartphone, the smart entry point for the entire device interconnection network.
“8” refers to the eight major devices surrounding the smartphone: including PCs, tablets, smart screens, speakers, glasses, watches, car machines, and headphones.
“N” refers to all IoT devices that can carry the Harmony operating system, such as printers, projectors, dishwashers, desk lamps, cameras, etc., covering application scenarios such as smart furniture, sports health, mobile office, smart travel, and audiovisual entertainment, enabling hardware collaboration and resource sharing among various devices.
Currently, in the “1+8” aspect, Huawei has conducted sufficient product research and development and implementation, while “N” is a key area where Huawei is focusing on and needs to involve all ecological partners to promote.
According to Yu Chengdong, over 1 million devices are added to the Harmony system every day, covering smartphones, tablets, wearables, smart screens, car cockpits, headphones, and whole-house intelligence.Check industry data, just use Hanghang checkComprehensive Overview of Huawei HarmonyOS Ecosystem
Source: Huawei Ecological Application Development White PaperDuring the critical opportunity period of the intelligent interconnection era, the Harmony system proposes three major technical concepts in line with the trends of mobile ecological development: one-time development, multi-end deployment; divisible and combinable, free circulation; unified ecology, native intelligence.
OpenHarmony overall follows a layered design, from bottom to top: kernel layer, system service layer, framework layer, and application layer. The system functions unfold step by step according to “system > subsystem > component”, supporting the cutting of non-essential components based on actual needs in multi-device deployment scenarios.
OpenHarmony technical architecture:
Comprehensive Overview of Huawei HarmonyOS Ecosystem
According to the notice on standardizing the communication caliber of HarmonyOS released by the Huawei Heart Voice Community, the Harmony operating system has three major features:
First, a single operating system can meet the needs of devices large and small, achieving a unified OS and elastic deployment.
Second, devices running this operating system merge at the system level to form a super terminal, allowing the hardware capabilities of the devices to be elastically expanded, achieving hardware collaboration and resource sharing between devices.
Third, aimed at developers, it achieves one-time development and multi-end deployment.
The core technical concepts of the Harmony ecosystem applications respond to the needs of the Internet of Everything era:
Comprehensive Overview of Huawei HarmonyOS Ecosystem

03

NearLink and Pangu Large Model Empowerment

The Pangu 3.0 large model is integrated into HarmonyOS 4.0, giving it more powerful AI capabilities.
The large model enhances Xiao Yi’s capabilities in three directions: smart interaction, productivity improvement, and personalized services.
Currently, at least 200 million smartphone users interact with Xiao Yi every month, and in cars equipped with Harmony cockpits, 87.6% of cockpit operations are completed by Xiao Yi, with the smart screen Xiao Yi being awakened an average of 7 times a day.
The upgraded Xiao Yi after HarmonyOS 4 is the first terminal smart assistant with AI large model capabilities directly facing consumers, capable of interaction at the smartphone system level, full of unlimited potential.
At the 2023 Huawei Developer Conference, Huawei also officially released the new generation of near-distance wireless connection technology – NearLink, which will provide Harmony with stronger connectivity capabilities, meeting application needs in multiple scenarios and bringing users an efficient connection experience.
In the future, various smart terminal products in the Huawei Harmony ecosystem can achieve faster data transmission, lower transmission latency, more stable wireless connections, broader signal coverage, larger networking scale, and lower energy consumption by integrating with NearLink technology, with broad application prospects.
Comprehensive Overview of Huawei HarmonyOS Ecosystem

Mobile End

Harmony has become the third major mobile operating system after Android and iOS.
According to Counterpoint data, as of Q3 2023, Harmony OS holds a 3% share of the global smartphone operating system market, showing a growth trend, while in the domestic market, Harmony OS has reached a market share of 13%, close to iOS.
The continuous increase in ecological devices and market share also means that Huawei has achieved the goal of building an Internet of Everything ecosystem in cooperation with other software and hardware partners, feeding back Huawei’s hardware ecosystem and revitalizing its consumer business.
The market share of Huawei HarmonyOS is on the rise:
Comprehensive Overview of Huawei HarmonyOS EcosystemSource: Counterpoint

PC End

The domestic PC market has significant potential, and Huawei is accelerating its layout. The combination of Harmony and PC is expected to open up new development space in the future.
Huawei is actively trying out Harmony on the PC end, having completed the adaptation work for the Intel PC end of the open-source Harmony, and its technical core supports the development on the PC end.
In April 2023, Softcom Power and its subsidiary Honghu Wanlian released the SwanLinkOS commercial PC release version (Beta version) based on OpenHarmony 3.2 Release, the first operating system release vendor in the industry to achieve open-source Harmony cross-instruction set capability. The PC end may become another important Harmony ecological terminal in the future.
In October 2023, Xunlong Software announced the launch of the open-source Harmony operating system on PC, and the Xunlong open-source Harmony engineer team has completed the initial adaptation of Orange Pi OS (OH) to PC on the development board equipped with RK3566, running the open-source Harmony operating system on PC devices.
Xunlong Software announced the realization of running the open-source Harmony operating system on PC devices:
Comprehensive Overview of Huawei HarmonyOS EcosystemSource: OrangePi WeChat Official Account
According to statistics from the National APP Technology Testing Platform, as of the end of September 2023, China’s domestic market is expected to exceed 50 million units in PC shipments in 2024.
According to Caizhao.com, the procurement unit price of Microsoft Windows, Kirin, and Tongxin UOS operating systems is about 500 yuan/set, based on this calculation, the potential market space for domestic PC operating systems is in the hundreds of billions, which is expected to give birth to a broad growth prospect for HarmonyOS.
With the prosperity of the Harmony ecosystem, a large number of APP atomic service transformations and upgrades are expected to bring considerable business increments to related manufacturers.
Under the trend of domestic substitution, Huawei, as a main force in the Xinchuang industry, is expected to benefit from the promotion of the domestic substitution trend.
Comprehensive Overview of Huawei HarmonyOS Ecosystem

Vehicle End

With the advent of Harmony 4.0, the Harmony smart cockpit has undergone significant changes in experience, upgrading from a single device experience to a collaborative experience involving multiple devices.
As one of the eight major entry points, Huawei Harmony 4.0 car machine system can achieve seamless transfer between multiple devices, interconnection between car and home, and share a vast array of application resources from the Harmony ecosystem, enhancing the driving experience.
The Huawei Harmony smart cockpit solution consists of a car machine module based on Kirin chips, Harmony operating system (Harmony OS), and HMS (Huawei Mobile Service), covering cockpit software, hardware, and core applications, ultimately perfecting the “1+8+N” Harmony ecosystem.
The Harmony car machine is the first domestic car-mounted OS kernel and is also the first operating system kernel to obtain CC EAL5+ and ASIL-D certification.
The Harmony kernel entering vehicles has changed the long-standing reliance of automotive operating system kernels on foreign manufacturers, achieving the first breakthrough in domestic car machine operating system kernels.
According to McKinsey, the global automotive operating system and middleware market was approximately $3 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach $8 billion by 2030.
Currently, the domestic vehicle operating system market has long been dominated by foreign manufacturers such as QNX.
With the rapid iteration of HarmonyOS, its vehicle-mounted OS market is expected to break through.
In the Harmony Intelligent Travel Model, Huawei will deeply participate in product design, marketing, and terminal sales. Currently, the car companies cooperating with Huawei include Seres, Chery, Jianghuai, and BAIC.

04

HarmonyOS NEXT: Full Launch of Native Harmony Applications

In September 2023, Huawei officially announced that the next version after Harmony 4.0 would be HarmonyOS NEXT.
Huawei will fully launch the deployment of native Harmony applications, marking a historic leap for Huawei’s mobile application ecosystem.
The HarmonyOS NEXT system will remove the Linux kernel and AOSP code, completely adopting the Harmony kernel and code, and will only support applications based on the Harmony kernel and Harmony system. This also means that the HarmonyOS NEXT system will no longer be compatible with existing Android system software.
At the launch ceremony of Harmony’s Thousand Sails, Huawei announced that the HarmonyOS NEXT Galaxy Edition developer preview is open for developer applications.
Since Huawei announced the full launch of native Harmony applications, multiple enterprises and developers in various fields have successively announced their participation in the Harmony ecosystem, showing strong growth and creativity, forming a vigorous scene of “Harmony’s Thousand Sails,” with native Harmony applications expected to accelerate their prosperity.

Core Base of HarmonyOS NEXT Fully Self-Developed:

Comprehensive Overview of Huawei HarmonyOS Ecosystem

Source: Fast Technology

05

Overview of Harmony Partners

Currently, Huawei has fully cooperated with partners and developers in 18 fields to accelerate the development of native Harmony applications.
At the 2023 Open Source Industry Ecological Conference, Huawei Terminal BG Software Department President Gong Ti stated that there are currently more than 6200 co-builders in the open-source Harmony community, with 51 co-building units, and 43 versions passing compatibility testing, covering fields such as finance, education, transportation, government affairs, and ultra-high definition.
The HarmonyOS NEXT system is ready to go, with major app giants recently announcing the initiation of native Harmony application development in 18 fields including gaming, social networking, travel navigation, business office, and accommodation, with the number of ecological partners exceeding 200, and it is expected that 5000 applications will complete native Harmony development by the end of the year.
According to Huawei’s data, as of December 2023, nearly half of the top 20 mobile internet applications have initiated the development of native Harmony applications.
Major companies such as Tencent, NetEase, Meituan, JD.com, and ByteDance have successively announced their participation in the Harmony application ecosystem, covering fields such as finance, transportation, education, government, energy, manufacturing, health, broadcasting, and telecommunications, becoming the root community of the next-generation intelligent terminal operating system and the foundation of the Internet of Everything.
Core manufacturers related to native Harmony applications and open-source Harmony ecosystem construction are expected to benefit deeply from the expansion of the Harmony ecosystem, while future participation will not only be in the mobile market but also in the new IoT demands across various industries.
Comprehensive Overview of Huawei HarmonyOS Ecosystem
Many enterprises have launched commercial release versions of operating systems based on open-source Harmony, showcasing their scene solution capabilities.
The widespread implementation of Huawei Harmony in broader fields requires the joint efforts of developer enterprises.
Companies that have launched commercial release versions of Harmony’s operating system earlier and more comprehensively typically possess well-developed software development capabilities and scene know-how, and are expected to continuously enjoy the dividends of Harmony ecosystem development.
From the perspective of open-source Harmony donors, focus on 8+13+9 enterprises.
Currently, open-source Harmony has 8 A-class donors, 1 A-class candidate donor, 13 B-class donors, 9 C-class donors, and 1 academic institution and 1 special donor.
A-class donors include listed computer companies such as Runhe Software, ChinaSoft International, Tuo Wei Information (Kai Hong Zhi Gu), and Jiu Lian Technology (Jiu Lian Kai Hong). B-class donors include Softcom Power, Zhongke Chuangda, Chengmai Technology, Zhengtong Electronics, and Youbo Xun.
The top ten enterprises in the number of co-builders in the open-source Harmony community are relatively stable.
Based on the weekly operational reports released by open-source Harmony, the ranking of the top ten co-builders in terms of quantity remains stable every month, with the top five being Shen Kai Hong, Softcom Power, Runhe Software, Tuo Wei Information (Kai Hong Zhi Gu), and Jiu Lian Technology.
OpenHarmony donors:
Comprehensive Overview of Huawei HarmonyOS Ecosystem
From the partner list at Huawei’s 2023 “Born from Gathering, United We Can” partner conference, diamond, platinum, and gold-level partners include software development companies such as Softcom Power, Tuo Wei Information, ChinaSoft International, Creative Information, Neusoft Group, and companies with intelligent computing capabilities such as Digital China, Huakun Zhenyu, Baode Computer, and Tsinghua Tongfang.
Partner list from Huawei’s partner conference:
Comprehensive Overview of Huawei HarmonyOS EcosystemSource: Huawei Partner Conference Official Website
Huawei’s diamond-level partners at the 2023 All-Connected Conference include Softcom Power, platinum-level partners include ChinaSoft International, Huakun Zhenyu, and Digital Kun Tai (Digital China), gold-level partners include Digital Government, Kirin Software, and Yonyou Network, while silver-level partners include Tuo Wei Information, SuperMap Software, Sai Yi Information, Kingdee International, New Point Software, and Dongfang Tong.
Many domestic manufacturers participating in the Huawei Harmony ecosystem include representatives such as Changshan Beiming, Lida Xin, Kela Software, Jida Zhengyuan, Yahua Electronics, Beiyikang, Shengtong Co., Guokemei, Zhengtong Electronics, Chuling Information, Hengwei Technology, Tianyuan Dike, and Kaiying Network.
The Huawei Harmony system provides strong software support for Huawei’s smart phones, tablets, smart watches, and other devices, injecting new vitality into the development of the entire domestic operating system ecosystem.
Through distributed technology, the Harmony system can achieve seamless connection and efficient collaboration between different devices, allowing users to enjoy a consistent operating experience in different scenarios. In addition, the Harmony system emphasizes openness and compatibility, actively collaborating with various developers to jointly create a rich and colorful application ecosystem. This not only provides users with more choices but also injects more innovative power into the development of domestic operating systems.
As an important cornerstone of domestic operating systems, the Huawei Harmony system not only promotes Huawei’s own development but also makes a positive contribution to the prosperity of the entire domestic operating system ecosystem.
Comprehensive Overview of Huawei HarmonyOS Ecosystem
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