Huawei Launches First Laptop With Its Own-made Harmony Operation System

JAKARTA Huawei officially launched two of its newest laptop models on Monday, May 19, which became the first to be sold on a homemade Harmony operating system. This move is an attempt by the giant Chinese technology company to challenge the dominance of major Western technology companies such as Microsoft and Apple, amid continued pressure from the United States on Huawei's access to critical chips.

Although Huawei has become one of the largest technology hardware manufacturers in the world, the development of the computer operating system in China is still lagging behind Microsoft's global Windows and macOS dominance from Apple.

The two new laptops launched were the MateBook Fold and the MateBook Pro, both using HarmonyOS 5, the latest version of the operating system that Huawei has been developing since 2015 and was first introduced to the Mate series phones in 2020. Huawei has started developing this laptop prototype since 2021.

"Laptop Harmony provides a new choice for the world," said Yu Chengdong, Head of Huawei's Consumer Division, in a live launch event. We continue to do difficult things, but the truth.

The basic model of the MateBook Fold, which does not have a physical keyboard and displays an 18-inch double OLED display when it is fully opened, sells for 23,999 yuan (around Rp. 54.4 million). Meanwhile, the MateBook Pro with the conventional laptop design is priced starting from 7,999 yuan (around Rp. 18.1 million).

The US has started limiting Huawei's access to US technology since 2019 for national security reasons. This prompted Huawei to build its own internal capabilities in developing chips and operating systems.

Huawei says that the computer version of HarmonyOS currently supports more than 150 applications, including the WPS Office of Kingsoft as an alternative to Microsoft Office, as well as the Meitu Xiu photo editing application.

In its annual report, Huawei stated that by the end of 2024, more than 7.2 million individual developers had developed applications for HarmonyOS, which has now been installed on more than a billion devices, including smartphones and TVs.

Huawei does not disclose the types of processor chips used in their latest laptops. However, the company explains that the high price of devices is due to the cost of the latest chipset manufacturing technology.

Previously, Reuters had reported that the US government had revoked the permits of several companies such as Intel and Qualcomm to supply chips to Huawei. The move was sparked by national security concerns, especially after Huawei released an AI-powered laptop that uses an Intel processor, which angered US Republican lawmakers.