HarmonyOS-powered laptop: One more PC alternative for China

Chinese tech giant Huawei on Thursday announced a new laptop that does not run Windows, macOS or Linux. Instead, it runs on the company's self-developed operating system – HarmonyOS – which until now had only powered smartphones and Internet of Things (IoT) devices.

The device closely resembles Huawei's previous flagship laptop, the MateBook X Pro. It features a lightweight design, weighing just 970 grams. Unlike earlier versions of the MateBook X Pro, which used CPUs from U.S. chipmaker Intel, this new model replaces the Intel processor with Huawei's own alternative – an apparent response to restrictions that later prevented Intel from supplying chips to Huawei.

According to videos posted on social media showing the laptop's terminal output, the new computer uses a Kirin X90 chip. This chip has not appeared in any previously released Huawei devices. The terminal data shows its maximum clock speed is around 2 gigahertz – considerably slower than leading processors currently available on the market.

Despite these limitations, various social media videos suggest that the operating system performs smoothly, with users reportedly opening and closing multiple large files simultaneously.

The current version of HarmonyOS on the laptop looks nearly identical to the OS running on Huawei's recent MatePad tablets. However, the laptop version includes a dedicated app store and a terminal environment, giving advanced users the option to use command line inputs instead of relying solely on the graphical interface.

Social media footage also revealed that many Linux commands work within the HarmonyOS terminal, although several others do not. This may be due to the OS's use of Huawei's proprietary Hongmeng kernel, which is designed to maintain partial compatibility with Linux features.

According to a salesperson at a Huawei store in Beijing, speaking to CGTN Digital, it is currently impossible to run either Windows or Android apps on the laptop. He added that even store staff were unclear about certain details ahead of the official release date on May 19.

However, apps developed for HarmonyOS Next on Huawei smartphones are expected to run seamlessly on the laptop, as both devices essentially run the same operating system across different screen sizes.

While the device may struggle to attract mainstream consumers – who are largely tied to the Microsoft or Apple ecosystems – it could find a niche among government agencies and state-owned enterprises concerned about data security when using foreign software and hardware. These organizations often rely on laptops powered by domestic chips and localized Linux distributions such as Kylin and UOS.

Chinese media reports quoting analysts have described HarmonyOS as a promising opportunity for China's domestic computing industry to grow. The laptop could also play a key role in Huawei's broader consumer electronics strategy.

Still, some analysts have questioned whether Huawei can successfully build a competitive PC ecosystem capable of challenging the long-dominant "Wintel" alliance – Microsoft Windows paired with x86 – based processors from Intel and AMD. Together, these technologies power more than 70 percent of PCs worldwide.