Huawei's head of consumer business, He Gang, officially announced HarmonyOS 7 during an event that also showcased the new triple-fold Mate XT 2 smartphone. The company is currently rolling out a range of foldable devices, including the Mate XT 2 and the Pura X Max. While the speech focused on artificial intelligence, Huawei did not provide a specific release date or a list of target markets for the new operating system version. HarmonyOS has become Huawei's primary operating system since American sanctions in 2019 cut the company off from Google and Android. Each new version of HarmonyOS is a key indicator of the progress of Huawei's self-developed ecosystem. In China, HarmonyOS accounted for 19% of the mobile operating system market in the first quarter of 2024, according to Counterpoint Research, surpassing iOS at 16%, as reported by the South China Morning Post. Huawei first introduced HarmonyOS 7 in beta form during its developers' conference in June, and provided more details on September 7. The interface features a translucent glass effect similar to Apple's Liquid Glass design. The company's AI assistant, Celia, now includes specialized functions such as career counseling, child care assistance, and a call assistant, which can be accessed via a gesture on the home screen. Huawei claims that over 2,000 AI agents are capable of creating marathon training plans based on health data or retrieving files from connected laptops. Huawei aims to compete with Apple, especially since Apple's updated Siri in iOS 27 is not available in mainland China due to regulatory issues. Huawei is using this gap to promote its locally developed AI. In terms of performance, Huawei claims HarmonyOS 7 offers 30 to 40% better performance than rival systems and improved memory management. However, these figures are based on Huawei's own testing and have not been independently verified. For now, HarmonyOS 7 is only available in a public beta version, with a stable release expected around the upcoming Mate 90 series. Outside of China, Huawei has not specified any plans, markets, or release dates for the stable version. HarmonyOS 7 is part of the HarmonyOS NEXT family, which uses a homegrown microkernel and no longer supports Android applications. Each app must be specifically recompiled for the platform, and there is no option to use Android APK files as a fallback. This represents a significant shift for users who rely on Google services and the Android app ecosystem, as the transition involves more than just translating the interface.