On June 24, 2025, Huawei released the developer beta of HarmonyOS 6, marking a clear shift toward integrating artificial intelligence throughout its operating system. Rather than centering on app stores or user-interface tweaks, this update aims to turn every HarmonyOS device into a proactive assistant.
New AI Agents Framework Simplifies Automation
At the heart of HarmonyOS 6 is the new AI Agents framework, which lets developers assemble and deploy automated services without wrestling with complex model training. Instead of building or tuning large language models from scratch, they can customize ready-made “agents” that handle tasks like scheduling reminders, summarizing messages or controlling smart-home devices. At launch, more than fifty agents from Chinese platforms such as Weibo and Ximalaya will be available, with broader rollouts to follow.
Toward a Unified, Context-Aware Assistant
By embedding AI functionality directly into the system, Huawei intends for HarmonyOS 6 to serve as a cohesive platform rather than just a host for standalone apps. This could change how people interact with their devices—shifting from manual app-to-app workflows to seamless, context-aware assistance that spans phones, tablets and beyond.
Ecosystem Strength: 8 Million Devs, 30 000 Apps
Huawei’s ecosystem is already sizable: eight million registered developers and over 30,000 applications and “atomic services” (lightweight modules that run without full installation). Instead of trying to match Android and iOS on sheer app-store numbers, Huawei focuses on the top 5,000 apps that account for 99.9 percent of user engagement, emphasizing quality and relevance.
Pangu 5.5: Enterprise AI Models Take Center Stage
On the enterprise side, Huawei is unveiling Pangu 5.5, a suite of AI models designed for sectors like healthcare, finance, manufacturing and automotive. Its language model features 718 billion parameters and its vision model 15 billion—specifications that place Pangu 5.5 among the leading commercial offerings. This initiative dovetails with HarmonyOS 6 to form an end-to-end AI stack, promising tighter optimization than third-party add-ons.
Record Shipments: 103 M Phones & 21 M Tablets
In 2024, Huawei shipped over 103 million HarmonyOS smartphones and 21 million tablets—nearly half its total device shipments—then extended the OS to laptops earlier this year. This cross-device approach echoes other unified ecosystems but carries fresh technical challenges as Huawei continues expanding.
Huawei’s AI-First Pivot Amid U.S. Sanctions
HarmonyOS 6 embodies Huawei’s transition from a hardware-focused vendor to a software and services provider. Blocked from some U.S. technologies since 2019, the company has doubled down on its own chips, models and operating system. With this AI-first release, Huawei aims to redefine what an operating system can accomplish and bring intelligent assistance into everyday use.