With its proprietary HarmonyOS, Huawei is gaining ground in the mobile operating system market and has overtaken iOS in China for the sixth consecutive quarter. It now seeks to displace Android as the market leader for mobile operating systems.
At the moment, Android dominates the worldwide smartphone operating system market. Globally, it holds 79% of the shares. Huawei, however, intends to outperform this US-based competitor with its “NEXT” offering.
According to the operating system report for Q2 2025, Counterpoint holds a share of the worldwide smartphone sales market. Despite gaining a sizable portion of the market, Android is losing ground in China as a result of HarmonyOS‘s quick ascent there.
According to the research organization, Android is mostly restricted in China because of the escalating rivalry, and in India because of premiumization. However, the OS has been supported by companies like Vivo, Samsung, Motorola, and Honor during the quarter.
However, iOS also saw a 1% growth in its market share worldwide. It has performed admirably in a number of markets, including Brazil, the Middle East, and India.
Because of the affordable iPhones and the recently released iOS 26 build version, iOS has also had the highest upgrade rate in the second quarter of this year.
However, for the sixth straight quarter, Huawei’s HarmonyOS has pushed iOS further back in China. The legendary Pura X foldable and the latest Nova 14 versions deserve a lot of praise. Both models have attracted a lot of interest.
The first device to release the stable HarmonyOS NEXT was the Pura X. Eye-tracking and a super Celia AI assistant were among the intriguing technologies it brought in.
In order to provide a more dependable user experience, the Nova 14 series was the first conventional phone device to be pre-installed with the stable HarmonyOS 5.0.
“HarmonyOS continues to grow in China and remains the second largest smartphone OS in the country for the sixth consecutive quarter. Huawei’s Nova series smartphones contributed heavily, and the foldable Pura X was also received well, keeping the brand competitive.” – said Counterpoint.
Following this, Huawei plans to provide HarmonyOS 5.0 to the global market, initially with wearables and then with tablets. It would be interesting to observe when the operating system would overtake Android as the dominant player in the global smartphone market.
Google Pixel Watch 5 (45mm)
Robert Haba is the founder and editor-in-chief of Droid Tools. A lifelong gadget enthusiast with over a decade following the Android ecosystem, he built this publication to cut through the noise and give readers honest, real-world coverage of the tech they actually use.
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