alt Hacker NewsThere are already 100 million HarmonyOS devices in China, so you could say it's now a three-way rivalry. The apps I use every day basically all have native HarmonyOS versions, including even foreign apps like Tesla and Sam's Club.
I've actually been using HarmonyOS for half a year now, and it feels pretty good — the notifications and system smoothness are on par with iOS. The reason I don't use an iPhone is that I need NFC access control, which iOS doesn't support.
Huawei has invested a large amount of manpower to station people in major companies to help develop HarmonyOS. I think they have already broken the vicious cycle of "no users -> no apps -> even fewer users."
Moreover, in the current AI era, it has become easier for Chinese developers to port software to HarmonyOS. For example, Moonlight, the streaming software I often use, has several natively customized and optimized versions available in the HarmonyOS app store.
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OP is asking about Linux phones. HarmonyOS doesn't even run Linux kernel at all.
HarmonyOS 5.x+ both discards the common Unix-like Linux kernel and replaces the previous multiple-kernel, kernel agnostic system from OpenHarmony with its own bespoke HarmonyOS microkernel as a single framework.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HarmonyOS#:~:text=HarmonyOS%20...
The Chinese government literally pushed companies to develop app for HarmonyOS [0]. Have fun finding out what happens if you don't.
I can't tell you whether this is a good idea, but I am sure this will never happen outside China, which is supposedly what the question is about.
Also bear in mind that Huawei is likely worth more than a trillion dollars. There aren't many companies at that scale.
[0] https://www.sz.gov.cn/en_szgov/news/latest/content/post_1117...
I bought a Huawei phone because of the hardware. I'm using the Pura X foldable phone.
The 16:10 screen makes it very convenient for watching videos and reading e-books.
The chip is the Kirin 9020. Although it's only equivalent to Android flagship chips from a few years ago, it doesn't feel laggy in daily use.
How well do Google Maps and WhatsApp work on the latest versions of HarmonyOS?
I assume it requires some mind of Android compatibility layer that won't pass Play Integrity checks..
There's also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KaiOS that developed from FirefoxOS and powers something like 100 million feature phones in the developing world.
More importantly, Huawei products eclipsed Apple in design in 2026
Isn't HarmoniousOS just a blatant Android OS clone, with serial numbers and licenses filed off? I remember ArsTechnica reported on that waaaay back when it was released.
HarmonyOS (especially meaning Huawei phones) is pretty much dead outside China, that's like saying WeChat is relevant messaging app outside China
if you can't run all your favorite bank apps in your phone any phone is dead nowadays, no matter whether it is Linux or HarmonyOS
and seems EU is fine with keeping Apple/Google duopoly in app verification, so although you can use European bank and pay with QR codes without MC/Visa, you still need US company verifying your phone so you can use European bank app, sad state of current things
Except that HarmonyOS is not Linux based or on Android [0]
In fact, it is a competitor against both iOS, Android and Linux-based devices.
It would have to be somewhat more global than only in China though. After all Google's spyphones also operates globally, more or less, even if Google is a ruthless US tool for abuse of other markets. IMO we need to get rid of all companies though. That's not realistic, but it really should happen. I just do not trust any of these private entities anymore; verifiable open source and open hardware at all times should become the new standard. Is anyone really using Win11? Ever since the recall-spy feature I knew I could not commit to it; whether I can disable it or not is not a useful distinction since there is no more trust in that private blob, now supported via AI slop.
It’s interesting to see how they got there. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HarmonyOS:
“From 2019 to 2024, versions 1 to 4.3 (4.5 TV) of the operating system were built by integrating the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) with OpenHarmony, allowing it to support both HarmonyOS and Android apps. The current iteration of HarmonyOS became known as HarmonyOS NEXT (later it was renamed HarmonyOS 5 in launched of Pura X). HarmonyOS NEXT was announced on August 4, 2023, and officially launched on October 22, 2024. It also replaced the OpenHarmony multi-kernel system with its own HongMeng Kernel at its core and removed all Android code. Since version 5, HarmonyOS only supports apps in its native "App" format.
HarmonyOS 5.x+ both discards the common Unix-like Linux kernel and replaces the previous multiple-kernel, kernel agnostic system from OpenHarmony with its own bespoke HarmonyOS microkernel as a single framework.”
⇒ this shows it’s possible to create a new stack. It’s not Linux, though, and I think a large reason for this succeeding is that it started in the Chinese market after the US sanctioned Huawei.