Huawei nears one billion devices, escalating competition with Apple

Huawei Technologies Co. is approaching a milestone of one billion active consumer devices, highlighting its growing competition with Apple Inc. in the critical Chinese market.

The company now has around 900 million devices running its Harmony operating system, up significantly from earlier this year, according to consumer business Chairman Richard Yu. Sales of premium Huawei smartphones rose 72% in the first five months of 2024, Yu announced at an annual developer forum.

This growth has been fueled by the success of Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro, featuring a 7-nanometer processor that surprised many by its advanced technology. This success has significantly boosted Huawei's profits and market share, surpassing Apple and other Chinese competitors.

Huawei’s HarmonyOS has expanded beyond smartphones to include products like watches and TVs. The company shipped about 11 million wearables in the first quarter, overtaking Samsung Electronics, and helping HarmonyOS surpass Apple’s iOS in Chinese market share, according to IDC and Counterpoint Research.

Huawei is now looking to further monetize HarmonyOS by potentially gaining share from in-app purchases, though it may exclude Tencent Holdings Ltd.'s WeChat from this policy. The company is also making strides in artificial intelligence with its Ascend GPU, which it claims is 1.1 times more efficient at training AI models than mainstream offerings.