Huawei Unveils Mate70 Series With A HarmonyOS Option To Challenge Android And iOS

With the all-new Mate70 series smartphones, Huawei is bidding adieu to Android for good. Huawei's flagship lineup will now be able to run HarmonyOS Next that is built completely in-house, presumably from the ground up, complete with its own app store and ecosystem. Mate70 customers do have the option to stick with the older Android-based HarmonyOS 4.3 with access to Android apps, but there will be limitations to either choice, of course.

Plans by Huawei, the world's largest telecommunications equipment vendor, to completely drop any semblance of American-made software or hardware from its devices have finally come to fruition. The freshly minted Huawei Mate70, Mate70 Pro, Mate70 Pro+, and Mate70 RS Ultimate not only boast an Android-free OS called HarmonyOS 5.0 (a.k.a. HarmonyOS Next), it's probably a certainty that the company will be selling boatloads of the phones. 

Last year and this year have seen Huawei's revenue in China surge, allowing it to jump ahead of Apple in sales in that market. The headway made by Huawei's smartphone business shows the company's resilience amid US sanctions—Huawei was added to the US government's trade blacklist in more than five years ago, and in August 2020 Washington tightened the noose by barring the firm's access to advanced semiconductors developed or produced using US tech.

The design of the new flagships are more refined and sophisticated, although some may say that they're less playful and unique as the contrasting back covers and pronounced camera ring of the Mate60. Huawei makes no mention of what SoCs are used in the 70-series, but they'll likely be sourced from long-time collaborator SMIC. A coupe of the highlights include the use of RYYB sensors for ultrawide and telephoto cameras on the Mate70 Pro+, while the top-of-the-line RS Ultimate has a high-gloss titanium frame with a shuttle-woven brocade for the back cover.

Nonetheless, the talk of the town goes to HarmonyOS 5.0, with the company's strategy of freeing itself from Android. We'll have to wait and see for a true OS teardown to determine if HOS 5.0 is truly NOT Android-based. As it is, the new OS app store currently has 15,000 apps with 100k more in the coming months. Mate 70 customers who opt for HarmonyOS 4.3, however, will continue to have access to the Google Play Store with a naturally massive app library. 

Although Huawei hasn't officially commented on it yet, we believe the company will cease (if it hasn't already) support for HOS 4.3, thus leaving users in a lurch—should they forgo software and security updates for access to Google apps or get on board the Next train?

Photo credits: Huawei