Huawei Unveils HarmonyOS 5: A Thriving Ecosystem Ushering in a New Era of Smart Living

Huawei Unveils HarmonyOS 5: A Thriving Ecosystem Ushering in a New Era of Smart LivingOn March 20, 2025, at the Huawei Pura Pioneer Ceremony and HarmonyOS Smart Travel new product launch, the highly anticipated HarmonyOS 5 was officially released, marking a new milestone in the development of the HarmonyOS operating system. As a much-awaited system upgrade for consumers, HarmonyOS 5 not only brings comprehensive performance improvements but also, with its robust ecosystem and self-developed technological capabilities, delivers a significant impact on the entire operating system market, opening a new era of smart living for users, developers, and ecosystem partners

Huawei Unveils HarmonyOS 5: A Thriving Ecosystem Ushering in a New Era of Smart Living

On March 20, 2025, at the Huawei Pura Pioneer Ceremony and HarmonyOS Smart Travel new product launch, the highly anticipated HarmonyOS 5 was officially released, marking a new milestone in the development of the HarmonyOS operating system. As a much-awaited system upgrade for consumers, HarmonyOS 5 not only brings comprehensive performance improvements but also, with its robust ecosystem and self-developed technological capabilities, delivers a significant impact on the entire operating system market, opening a new era of smart living for users, developers, and ecosystem partners.

At the launch event, Huawei also unveiled the first phone to feature HarmonyOS 5 the HUAWEI Pura X. This phone represents a full-scale breakthrough across hardware, software, and ecosystem, perfectly showcasing the power of HarmonyOS 5. The launch also announced a comprehensive upgrade plan for HarmonyOS 5, with numerous Huawei models, including the Mate70 series, receiving the upgrade immediately. This signifies that the HarmonyOS operating system has transitioned from independent research and development to mature application and is beginning to cover an increasingly large number of Huawei users.

The HarmonyOS 5 upgrade is based on a months-long public beta test that started in October 2024. According to Huawei Consumer Business CEO Yu Chengdong, during the beta testing period, HarmonyOS 5 iterated through over 30 versions, adding more than 150 new features. The final result is a completely new operating system with significant upgrades in smoothness, security, convenience, and efficiency.

In terms of system performance, HarmonyOS 5 achieves a 40% overall performance increase. This results in an unprecedentedly smooth user experience, whether switching between daily applications or running large games, providing a seamless experience and eliminating lag. This improvement stems from HarmonyOS's new architectural design, which optimizes the system's underlying layers while also improving application runtime efficiency.

In terms of security, HarmonyOS 5 introduces the Star Shield security architecture and has undergone rigorous testing with 2.8 billion security accesses. Compared to iOS, permission request pop-ups are reduced by 76%, significantly reducing the risk of privacy leaks and providing strong protection for user personal information. This architecture provides multiple layers of protection at the system level and strengthens permission management at the application level to ensure the security and reliability of user data.

Convenience is another significant highlight of HarmonyOS 5. Currently, the "Huawei Account One-Click Login" feature covers over 120 leading applications, eliminating the need for cumbersome login processes and allowing users to conveniently enjoy various services. Furthermore, the "Live Window" feature boasts a 93% usage rate, enabling users to receive important notifications in real-time without launching the application, significantly improving information retrieval efficiency. These convenient features are designed to simplify user operations and allow technology to better serve daily life.

The development of the HarmonyOS ecosystem has also made significant progress. Mainstream applications are joining the HarmonyOS ecosystem to create an even better user experience. For example, WPS has collaborated with HarmonyOS to achieve cross-device collaboration and unified account functionality, allowing users to work seamlessly across different devices; Douyin (TikTok) has rapidly iterated on core features, optimizing live shopping, dynamic photos, and the broadcast control center; Baidu has launched the "BaiKan" feature, which has restructured the AI search experience; and WeChat continues to optimize features such as video accounts, WeChat services, and scanning QR codes. These collaborations not only enrich the application content of the HarmonyOS ecosystem but also provide users with a wider range of functional choices and a better user experience.

The convenient interactive functions of the HarmonyOS system have also been further enhanced. For example, the "HarmonyOS Tap-to-Share" feature allows users to quickly share various content, such as Taobao product links, Bilibili videos, and game interfaces, simply by tapping two HarmonyOS devices together. The "Scan to Access/Smart Scan" feature significantly improves payment and scanning efficiency, allowing users to conveniently make scan-based payments on the lock screen or desktop; dozens of applications, including Alipay, Meituan, and Dianping, already support this feature. Huawei stated that it will continue to refine and optimize HarmonyOS applications with its partners. More features for the HarmonyOS versions of WeChat and Douyin Mall will be launched by the end of March.

HarmonyOS 5 also provides a comprehensive upgrade to the XiaoYi intelligent experience. By integrating the PanGu and DeepSeek dual models, XiaoYi can accurately understand user needs, handle complex tasks, and features functions such as "XiaoYi Help Connect," "XiaoYi Smart Cache," and "XiaoYi Time Machine," providing users with a more intimate interactive experience. The upgrade of XiaoYi reflects the progress of the HarmonyOS system in the field of artificial intelligence and provides users with smarter and more convenient services.

In the current market environment, the release of HarmonyOS 5 is not only a demonstration of Huawei's technological strength but also a significant impact on the entire operating system market. In a market dominated by Android and iOS, the HarmonyOS operating system, with its fully self-developed technological capabilities, has achieved independent control of core operating system technologies, providing consumers with a third alternative to Android and iOS, breaking the long-standing bipolarization of mobile operating systems. This is of significant importance for maintaining national information security and promoting technological self-innovation.

For developers and ecosystem partners, the continuous improvement of the HarmonyOS ecosystem means more opportunities and vast market space. Huawei has built an open ecosystem platform, attracting numerous developers to join and jointly promote the enrichment and innovation of HarmonyOS applications. Huawei's expanding ecosystem also provides developers with greater development opportunities.

At the launch event, Huawei also announced that HarmonyOS computers will be released in May. These computers will be equipped with the first fully self-developed Chinese computer operating system HarmonyOS breaking a more than 30-year gap in the field of Chinese computer operating systems and marking a significant step forward for China's electronic information industry. The release of HarmonyOS computers provides broader development space for domestic software developers and injects new vitality into the rise of China's computer industry.

Since its first appearance in 2019, HarmonyOS has undergone multiple major version iterations and has become one of the fastest-growing intelligent terminal operating systems in history. In just a few years, it has ended China's reliance on Western technology for terminal system kernels, marking a breakthrough from 0 to 1 in the field of operating systems for Chinese technology and reversing the long-standing passive situation in core technologies. This is not only a success for Huawei but also a significant achievement for China's technology industry.

Currently, HarmonyOS ecosystem partners are accelerating ecosystem adaptation, and the HarmonyOS ecosystem is experiencing vigorous development. To date, the number of HarmonyOS developers has exceeded 7.2 million, the number of HarmonyOS ecosystem devices has exceeded 1 billion, and the number of HarmonyOS ecosystem applications and atomic services has exceeded 20,000, widely covering 18 industries. This data fully demonstrates the prosperity and development potential of the HarmonyOS ecosystem.

HarmonyOS 5, as the latest iteration of the HarmonyOS system and the largest upgrade ever, not only provides users with a smoother, safer, more convenient, and more efficient user experience but also serves as a catalyst for the prosperity of the entire HarmonyOS ecosystem. As the HarmonyOS ecosystem continues to grow, it will propel Huawei to occupy a more important position in the smart device market, creating more value and surprises for users. The release of HarmonyOS 5 signifies China's determination to become self-reliant and self-strong in the field of operating systems and brings a new competitive landscape to the global technology industry.