Is Huawei’s HarmonyOS the Next Game‑Changer for IoT and Mobile?

Ren Zhengfei, chairman of Huawei, was featured on the cover of the French magazine Le Point in a fifteen‑page interview that also covered the company’s HarmonyOS.

HarmonyOS is a self‑developed operating system designed to run on a wide range of devices, including printed circuit boards, switches, routers, smartphones and data‑center equipment.

The system boasts a processing latency of less than five milliseconds, making it suitable for Internet‑of‑Things (IoT) applications and autonomous driving.

When asked whether HarmonyOS is faster than Google Android or Apple macOS, Ren cautiously replied that it is “very likely,” citing a technical report that claims the OS can be up to 60 % faster than Android.

Ren admitted that, compared with Android and iOS, HarmonyOS still lacks a mature application ecosystem. Huawei is therefore building its own app store and encouraging developers to join.

He emphasized that HarmonyOS was not originally created for smartphones but for IoT scenarios such as autonomous driving and industrial automation, where sub‑millisecond latency is critical.

Ren also updated on Huawei’s 5G progress: the company has secured 50 5G contracts, shipped 150,000 base stations, and believes most major overseas customers will continue to choose Huawei’s advanced 5G solutions.

Regarding financial performance, Ren noted that the original sales target of $135 billion may be revised down to about $100 billion, with net profit expected around $8 billion.

After the G20 meeting on June 29, the United States announced a partial relaxation of sanctions on Huawei, allowing the purchase of certain U.S. chips and software, though the scope remains limited.

Huawei’s 2019 Developer Conference (HDC.2019) is scheduled for August 9‑11 in Dongguan, focusing on 5G deployment, IoT, and AI, with over 200 technical sessions and thousands of developers expected.