On May 19, 2025, Huawei officially launched its first PC product equipped with a self-developed chip and a pure HarmonyOS at the terminal spring new product launch conference held in Chengdu. This "pure Harmony PC" marks a strategic step for Huawei in the field of personal computers, and also symbolizes a major breakthrough in the direction of "independent and controllable" of domestic PCs. China Exportsemi will take a look at the details of the product and the story behind it with you today.
Pictured: Huawei officially released the pure HarmonyOS PC
Ⅰ Technical base: the concentrated embodiment of software and hardware collaborative breakthroughs
1. Kirin X90 chip: advanced performance and energy efficiency
It is understood that the Kirin X90 chip equipped with Huawei's pure Harmony PC has achieved cross-generational improvement in performance and energy efficiency. According to the data released at the press conference, compared with the previous generation of chips, the CPU performance of Kirin X90 has increased by 76%, GPU performance has increased by 150%, and AI computing power has increased by 200%. This combination gives the new PC significant performance advantages in graphics processing, multimedia computing, and AI intelligent experience.
According to Huawei, the Kirin X90 is based on the 5nm advanced process, adopts a self-developed NPU architecture, integrates a 14-core CPU and the latest generation graphics engine, and has excellent parallel computing and task scheduling capabilities. For example, in video editing and real-time rendering scenarios, the chip provides near-desktop-class processing power, while maintaining high frame rates in large gaming environments.
What's more worth mentioning is that the energy efficiency ratio of the Kirin X90 has been increased by 40%, which means that the power consumption is lower, the heat generation is less, and the battery life is longer under the same load. This feature makes the pure HarmonyOS PC the best choice for light office and mobile work scenarios, especially for government and enterprise, education and mobile office users.
2. HarmonyOS kernel: The microkernel architecture ensures security and controllability
Huawei uses the "pure HarmonyOS" operating system, which is the HarmonyOS NEXT system version that completely removes the dependency of the Android Open-Source Project (AOSP). Its core is based on a microkernel design, which shows obvious advantages in security, real-time, resource isolation and stability.
According to Huawei's official data, the code autonomy rate of the HarmonyOS kernel has reached 99.8%, far exceeding the 92% threshold of the industry's "Root of Trust" standard. This provides an underlying guarantee for system security, and also lays the foundation for adapting domestic chips and accelerating software customization in the future.
The microkernel design allows the system to maintain flexible scheduling and responsiveness in high-concurrency tasks. Users can smoothly run multiple application scenarios on the pureblood HarmonyOS PC, such as remote meetings, data analysis and PPT editing at the same time, and the system still runs smoothly.
3. AI-native convergence: Create an intelligent PC experience
Huawei has deeply integrated the Pangu model with the operating system, bringing pure HarmonyOS PCs to a new stage in terms of intelligent experience. Its AI capabilities cover multiple dimensions such as semantic recognition, image understanding, and natural language processing.
For example, in office scenarios, the system can realize real-time voice transcription and meeting minutes generation, significantly improving meeting efficiency. In document editing, users can generate PPT outlines and automatically beautify slide content through natural language prompts. In terms of image editing, AI can intelligently identify image content and assist in operations such as background replacement and style transfer.
The built-in AI assistant of HarmonyOS PC can also dynamically optimize system resources to improve battery life and system response speed, reflecting the design concept of "native intelligence".
Figure: Huawei's HarmonyOS system architecture
Ⅱ Strategic significance: in-depth breakthrough of independent operating system + domestic chips
1. Break the long-term systemic duopoly
For a long time, the global PC operating system market has been basically monopolized by Microsoft's Windows and Apple's MacOS. According to StatCounter data, as of the first quarter of 2025, Windows will account for about 72% of the global PC market, and MacOS will account for about 15%. In the Chinese market, this proportion is more concentrated, with Windows accounting for more than 80%.
The launch of the pure HarmonyOS PC provides the market with a "third pole" system choice. This software-hardware integration solution based on domestic operating systems and chips is especially favored by government and enterprise customers who have high requirements for data sovereignty and information security.
According to media reports, at present, many governments and state-owned enterprises have begun to pilot the deployment of pure Harmony PC. Taking a municipal finance bureau in East China as an example, the 1,200 pure Harmony PCs it recently purchased were used in office and classified information processing systems, and the feedback system was stable, responsive and highly secure.
2. Promote the domestic PC ecosystem to move towards high-end
Huawei's self-developed chips, operating systems, and hardware integration to launch a complete machine solution is an important attempt to promote the high-end independent path of domestic PCs. Previously, Chinese PC manufacturers mostly relied on Intel/AMD chips and Windows systems, with limited added value of technology, and the control of core key technologies was held overseas.
The combination of Kirin X90 + Harmony NEXT opens up the key link from the bottom of the chip to the center of the system, which is expected to drive the "reverse vertical integration" of the entire domestic PC industry chain. Including chip design, OS research and development, driver adaptation, office software, security certification and other fields, all will gain development momentum driven by this strategic direction.
Ⅲ Ecological construction: the long-term barriers and ways to break the game of HarmonyOS PC
1. The application ecology is beginning to take shape, and the progress of adaptation can be expected
As of the first quarter of 2025, Huawei announced that the number of HarmonyOS native applications has exceeded 20,000, covering 99% of daily use scenarios. Mainstream applications such as WeChat, Alipay, WPS, WeCom, AutoNavi Map, and HUAWEI CLOUD have all completed the in-depth adaptation of HarmonyOS PC.
In addition, Huawei holds the "HarmonyOS Developer Conference" every year, with a special track for PC applications. The 2024 conference attracted more than 100,000 developers and submitted more than 15,000 apps. Huawei also provides IDE tools, compatibility verification support, and profit-sharing incentives to lower the development threshold and accelerate the construction of the application ecosystem.
In terms of professional productivity software, WPS Office and Kingsoft Docs have implemented the native version of HarmonyOS, and video editing software such as Filmora and the Meitu App are being adapted. However, key tools such as Adobe Photoshop, Premiere, and AutoCAD still require time investment and ecosystem strategy.
2. The game and commercial software ecosystem is still a short board
Compared with the more than 7 million applications on the Windows platform, the construction of the HarmonyOS PC ecosystem is still in its infancy. Especially in terms of high-end design software, financial systems, ERP platforms and mainstream PC games, the HarmonyOS platform currently has limited support.
This is also a practical challenge for the HarmonyOS ecosystem to achieve large-scale popularization. At present, Huawei uses the "HarmonyOS compatibility layer" to implement the operation of some Win applications on HarmonyOS, but the performance and stability still need to be optimized. In the future, on the one hand, it is necessary to strive for key software vendors to release the native version of HarmonyOS, and on the other hand, it is also necessary to build an "alternative route" for its own ecological application ecology.
Ⅳ Conclusion: From "technical benchmarking" to "industrial engine".
The release of Huawei's pure Harmony PC is not only the birth of a new product, but also a comprehensive domestic substitution practice involving chips, operating systems, security systems, and terminal hardware. It breaks the dependence of traditional PCs on overseas technology routes, and explores a development path of "software and hardware integration, independent and controllable" for China in the field of digital core infrastructure.
Although HarmonyOS PC still faces challenges in terms of ecological maturity and market share in the short term, the strategic direction it represents is highly consistent with the national information innovation project, and will play an important role in the fields of government and enterprise digitalization, education informatization, and industrial Internet.
In the future, with the gradual growth of the developer ecosystem, the improvement of the software adaptation system, and the addition of more domestic chips to the PC ecosystem, the pure HarmonyOS PC is expected to truly become the "flagship product" of China's independent IT industry.
