In the first quarter of 2024, Huawei’s mobile operating system, HarmonyOS, overtook Apple’s iOS in market share in China for the first time, according to data from Counterpoint Research. This is a significant milestone for Huawei, as it has been facing sanctions from Washington since May 2019 that prevented it from selling products with Google services. The report shows that HarmonyOS’s market share in smartphones sold in China increased from 8% in the first quarter of 2023 to 17% in the same period of 2024. Meanwhile, iOS decreased from 20% to 16%, both remaining below the dominant operating system, Android, which took 68% of the market.
This decline marks the first time since the first quarter of 2019 that iOS experienced a reduction in its market share during the first quarter in China. The launch of new phones compatible with 5G networks and equipped with HarmonyOS by Huawei has contributed significantly to this trend. Counterpoint’s report suggests that HarmonyOS’s upward trend “will likely continue.” In fact, Huawei became the leading manufacturer of tablet sales in China last quarter and surpassed Apple for the first time.
At a press conference at the end of 2023, Huawei’s rotating president Ken Hu announced that his company had managed to “overcome the storm” after facing sanctions from Washington. These sanctions resulted in a ban on Google selling products to Huawei and caused it to lose access to the Android operating system. This forced Huawei to promote a self-developed alternative for its devices called HarmonyOS (in Chinese ‘Hongmeng.’) Despite these challenges, Huawei continues to innovate and grow its presence in China’s tech market.
