Huawei's new operating system wants to rival iOS and Android in China

Remember when tech giants like Microsoft released the Windows Phone in partnership with Nokia, and Samsung developed Tizen alongside Intel to rival the Android and iOS operating systems?

Oh, I almost forgot to mention Alibaba's YunOS as well, which became the second most popular smartphone OS in China back in 2016, ahead of Apple's iOS.

Now, Huawei's recently released operating system called HarmonyOS Next is going against Android and iOS in the Chinese mobile market, where the Google-owned OS holds a 77% share, while the Apple-owned OS holds 21.79%.

The Chinese tech giant believes that its HarmonyOS Next – reportedly running on 16% of smartphones sold in China – has a chance to shake up the industry, especially as it witnessed an upsurge of 64% in its smartphone sales in the first six weeks of this year.

It plans to build a self-sufficient ecosystem of mobile apps and looks to collaborate with app developers and programmers to create HarmonyOS-specific applications and train coders on its system.

According to a report from Xinhua news agency, the Shenzhen government now plans to expand the ecosystem of Huawei's HarmonyOS operating system, developing a large pool of developers and promoting the use of HarmonyOS applications in key industries in Shenzhen.

As the US-China trade war rages on, Huawei's move is considered a strategic response to US sanctions on Chinese technology equipment.