According to sources, the HarmonyOS on the PC side is nearing completion, which means that Huawei is currently undergoing final debugging and optimization work. By then, Huawei's full-ecosystem all-terminal system will soon take shape.
Microsoft's Windows operating system has been dominating the PC space, with a market share of 72 at the end of 2023, according to Statcounter72%, Apple macOS has a market share of 1638%。
Compared to other operating systems, the Windows operating system has a clear advantage, with the largest software ecosystem and support for a wide range of business, educational, and entertainment applications. Many popular software and games are developed first or specifically for the Windows system and are the preferred platform for gamers. At the same time, Windows provides powerful enterprise-grade features with good user-friendliness, software and hardware compatibility.
In terms of product performance, especially in the ecosystem, the PC version of the HarmonyOS system is difficult to fully compete with Windows in a short period of time, and it will still take a long time to catch up with the already very mature Windows.
For online gamers and consumers who often use entertainment software, the PC version of the HarmonyOS system has limited appeal to them. At the same time, many people have developed a habit of using the Windows operating system for a long time, forming a dependence on various software and programs, and it takes time to cultivate user habits.
At the same time, in 2023, although Huawei's PC shipments rank second in China, the shipments will be less than 5 million, which is far from being comparable with Huawei's mobile phones, and the boost to the PC version of the HarmonyOS system in the future will be relatively limited. Therefore, many people are not optimistic about the market prospects of the PC version of Hongmeng.
However, in the context of rising global geopolitical risks, information security has become more and more important. For example, due to the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Microsoft has announced that it will stop providing services to Russia on September 30, 2023, and Russian businesses and individuals can no longer use Microsoft's products and services. Therefore, it is of great significance to vigorously develop independent research and development of operating systems.
For the PC version of the HarmonyOS system, although it is very difficult to fully replace the Windows operating system, and it is not realistic, but if the software replacement is limited to office and simple entertainment software, it is not impossible to succeed, and there are also huge market opportunities.
For enterprise users, the main function of the computer is office, and the requirements for entertainment and other performance are not high. Therefore, in addition to state institutions and state-owned enterprises, many private enterprises will also become potential users of the PC version of the Hongmeng system, and in the field of servers, the PC version of the Hongmeng system will also occupy a certain market share.
Although consumers with high entertainment requirements, such as online game players, are less likely to accept the PC version of the HarmonyOS system. However, for most consumers, the demand for computers is mostly limited to office work and simple entertainment, and for them, a lot of entertainment is through mobile phones or tablets. Therefore, the PC version of the HarmonyOS system will also have a certain market demand in the consumer market.
At the same time, although Huawei's own annual PC shipments are only about 5 million units, the number of HarmonyOS ecosystem partners is increasing rapidly, Gong Ti, President of Huawei's Device BG Software Department, said that as of December 2023, there are more than 6,200 co-builders of the open source HarmonyOS community, as well as 51 co-construction units, and more than 400 partners for HarmonyOS native application development.
In addition to Huawei, other PC companies may also be equipped with the PC version of the HarmonyOS system in the future, especially for enterprise customers.
In terms of overseas markets, Russia, Iran, North Korea and many other countries also have a broad market space, among these countries, whether it is the first department, enterprises or ordinary consumers, there is a huge demand for Windows operating system replacement products.
Therefore, although the performance and ecology are not as good as Windows, the potential market for PC version of HarmonyOS may be far larger than many people expected.