Huawei Technologies on Thursday unveiled its first laptop that runs the company’s self-developed operating system, HarmonyOS, following the expiration of its Microsoft Windows licence for personal computers (PCs) in March.
Stacked with artificial intelligence (AI) features, the laptop, which has not yet been named, operates HarmonyOS 5, also referred to as HarmonyOS Next, the latest iteration of the system. Most Huawei laptops in the market currently run Windows, although some models offer the option to use open-source Linux.
The new laptop features Huawei’s AI assistant, Celia, that is capable of performing tasks such as creating slides, summarising the minutes of a meeting and retrieving information from local documents, provided it has access to the necessary third-party software, according to state-backed newspaper Securities Times, citing Huawei’s president of tablets and PCs, Zhu Dongdong.
HarmonyOS on PCs includes a wide range of software catering to both work and entertainment needs, such as WPS, China’s alternative to Microsoft Office, and Alibaba Group Holding’s enterprise collaboration platform, DingTalk, according to Chinese tech news outlet ITHome. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.
The laptop is also compatible with a growing selection of mobile apps available on HarmonyOS smartphones, including social media platform RedNote, video-sharing site Bilibili and ByteDance’s enterprise collaboration tool Feishu. By the end of the year, the device is expected to support over 2,000 apps, according to state-backed newspaper Nanfang Daily.
