Huawei PuraX: A Double Breakthrough with a 16:10 Wide Foldable Screen and Native HarmonyOS

Huawei PuraX: A Double Breakthrough with a 16:10 Wide Foldable Screen and Native HarmonyOSOn March 20, 2025, Huawei unveiled its new foldable phone, the PuraX. This phone boasts a unique 16:10 aspect ratio screen and, more significantly, is the world's first phone to natively feature HarmonyOS 5

Huawei PuraX: A Double Breakthrough with a 16:10 Wide Foldable Screen and Native HarmonyOS

On March 20, 2025, Huawei unveiled its new foldable phone, the PuraX. This phone boasts a unique 16:10 aspect ratio screen and, more significantly, is the world's first phone to natively feature HarmonyOS 5.0 (HarmonyOS 5). This marks a crucial step forward for Huawei in both the foldable phone market and the development of its HarmonyOS ecosystem, signifying a potential "revenge" resurgence after navigating chip shortages. The 1610 days between the launch date and the Huawei Mate 40 series launch (October 22, 2020) may be a deliberate coincidence, symbolizing Huawei's perseverance and breakthroughs.

16:10 Aspect Ratio: A New Experience in Wide Foldable Screens

One of the PuraX's main highlights is its 16:10 inner screen aspect ratio, touted by Huawei as the "world's first wide foldable screen." Compared to traditional 16:9 or 18:9 screens, the 16:10 offers a larger display area at the same size, better suited for multitasking, document reading, and video viewing. Huawei's marketing emphasizes its suitability for both landscape and portrait orientations, attempting to bring the 16:10 ratio, common in laptops, to the mobile phone realm, expanding mobile office and entertainment scenarios. Lenovo's Legion Y700 tablet also utilizes a similar aspect ratio.

However, non-standard aspect ratios are not uncommon in the foldable phone market. The OPPO Find N has an 8.4:9 inner screen ratio, the original Samsung Galaxy Fold a 4.2:3 ratio, and Huawei's own Mate XT unfolds to a 16:11 ratio. This indicates that a unified standard for foldable screen aspect ratios hasn't yet emerged. While the 16:10 ratio is a distinctive feature of the PuraX, whether it will create a unique market advantage remains to be seen. Users will need to adapt to the new aspect ratio, and the app ecosystem requires further optimization to fully leverage the 16:10 screen's potential. Unless other manufacturers follow suit, widespread adoption of the 16:10 ratio is unlikely.

Native HarmonyOS 5.0: Ushering in the Pure-Blood HarmonyOS Era

Another crucial feature of the PuraX is its native HarmonyOS 5.0 operating system. This is Huawei's first phone entirely built on HarmonyOS 5.0, and downgrading to HarmonyOS 4.X or earlier versions is not supported. This makes the PuraX a "pure-blood" HarmonyOS phone, signifying that the HarmonyOS ecosystem is beginning to fully detach from Android, entering a new phase of independent development.

HarmonyOS's strength lies in its "develop once, deploy across multiple devices" capability. For Huawei, as the leading manufacturer of foldable phones in China's market, app adaptation for the PuraX shouldn't present significant challenges. At the launch event, numerous apps such as Bilibili, Xiaohongshu, and QQ Music showcased their native HarmonyOS versions developed for the PuraX, offering improved convenience and features exclusive to HarmonyOS.

As of March 2025, the number of devices running HarmonyOS has surpassed 1 billion, covering smartphones, tablets, smart wearables, and automobiles. The HarmonyOS developer and app ecosystem continues to expand, with over 7.2 million registered developers and over 20,000 native apps and atomic services, covering 18 industries including finance, education, and manufacturing. Top apps such as WeChat, Douyin (TikTok), and Alipay have all exceeded 2 million downloads.

Market data shows HarmonyOS holds a 19% market share in China, surpassing iOS for four consecutive quarters and becoming the second largest operating system in China. However, the growth rate of the HarmonyOS ecosystem is slowing. Between Q1 2023 and Q1 2024, HarmonyOS market share more than doubled, but it only increased by 2 percentage points throughout 2024. This is mainly due to Huawei's lack of a blockbuster product in the sub-3000 phone market, a segment previously dominated by Honor, whose departure impacted Huawei's market share.

The future development of the HarmonyOS ecosystem relies on Huawei's smartphone sales growth and the launch of more HarmonyOS devices. Huawei plans to release a HarmonyOS-powered computer in May, but this will face even greater challenges, as the computer ecosystem is far more complex and mature than the mobile ecosystem. The construction of the HarmonyOS ecosystem remains a long and arduous journey.

PuraX Hardware Specifications and Pricing

The PuraX features a 3.5-inch 1:1 aspect ratio external screen and a 6.3-inch 16:10 aspect ratio inner screen with a 2120x1320 resolution, supporting a 1-120Hz LTPO 2.0 adaptive refresh rate, a peak brightness of 2500 nits, HDR Vivid, and 1440Hz PWM dimming. Other specifications include the same Hongfeng original color imaging system as the Mate 70 series, 2-meter IPX8 water resistance, Xuanwu water drop hinge, second-generation Lingxi communication, Beidou satellite communication, a 4720mAh battery, 66W wired fast charging, and 40W wireless fast charging.

Huawei offers four versions of the PuraX, priced between 7499 and 9999. This differs from Richard Yu's pre-launch statement that it would be an "affordable and unexpected product for everyone in China."

With the addition of the PuraX, Huawei now boasts the widest range of foldable phone models in the industry, creating a complete "Huawei foldable phone universe" encompassing large foldables (Mate X series), small foldables (Pocket series), tri-foldables (Mate XT), and the PuraX.

Huawei HarmonyOS Auto's Three Updated Models: More Features, Lower Prices

Besides the PuraX, Huawei also unveiled three updated HarmonyOS Auto models at the launch event: the AITO New M9, AITO New M5 Ultra, and the ARCFOX S9 extended-range version. These three models have undergone various upgrades and adopt a "more features, lower prices" strategy.

The AITO New M9 features upgrades in appearance, interior, and intelligent driving system, maintaining the same starting price as the previous model, but with some versions reduced by 10,000-20,000. The AITO New M5 Ultra comes standard with Huawei ADS 3.3 advanced intelligent driving system across all models, improving handling stability and safety, with a 20,000 price reduction. The ARCFOX S9 extended-range version is equipped with Huawei's Snowy Owl intelligent extended-range system, improving range and intelligent driving capabilities, with a pre-sale price 80,000 lower than the pure electric version.

The updates and price reductions of these three models reflect Huawei's active layout and competitive strategy in the automotive sector, hoping to continue the excellent market performance of the previous three models. The AITO M9 is the sales champion in the over-500,000 vehicle segment in China, and the ARCFOX S9 has topped the sales charts for pure electric sedans over 400,000 for several consecutive months, while only the AITO M5's market performance is relatively flat.

Conclusion: The Future of PuraX and the HarmonyOS Ecosystem

The launch of the Huawei PuraX showcases Huawei's innovation in foldable phones and marks the HarmonyOS ecosystem's entry into a new phase of independent development. The combination of the 16:10 wide foldable screen and native HarmonyOS 5.0 offers users a new mobile experience. However, whether the 16:10 aspect ratio will become mainstream, and whether the HarmonyOS ecosystem can maintain rapid growth, remains to be seen. Huawei needs to continue its efforts, launching more blockbuster products in the mid-to-low-end market to consolidate HarmonyOS's leading position and ultimately achieve its "revenge" goal. The long march of the HarmonyOS ecosystem has only just begun.