Chinese technology giant Huawei Technologies unveiled its Mate 70 smartphone series on Tuesday, marking a significant step in its comeback to the high-end smartphone market. The launch also emphasized Huawei’s dedication to its own operating system, reflecting a clear shift away from dependence on U.S. technology.
Richard Yu, Chairman of Huawei’s Consumer Business Group, described the new device as “the most powerful Mate phone ever” during an event held at the company’s headquarters in Shenzhen.
The Mate 70 is the first widely available smartphone to feature a satellite paging system, boasting an enhanced processor and running on Huawei’s proprietary HarmonyOS Next. These upgrades collectively improve performance by 40% compared to previous models, according to Yu.
This launch arrives amid reports that the U.S. may soon impose new export controls, potentially adding up to 200 Chinese chip companies to a trade blacklist, which would limit their access to U.S. suppliers, as reported by Reuters on Saturday.
Huawei (HWT.UL) generally does not address its chip advancements during product launches, with such details typically uncovered by teardown firms afterward.
The Mate 70 series marks the first major commercial launch of HarmonyOS NEXT, a key milestone in Huawei’s push for software independence following U.S. sanctions that cut off access to Google services in 2019. While previous versions of HarmonyOS were compatible with Android, the HarmonyOS NEXT, which began public testing this year, signifies a full departure from Android.
Last week, Huawei announced that it had secured over 15,000 applications for its HarmonyOS ecosystem, with plans to expand to 100,000 apps in the coming months.
The patriotic support for Huawei’s technological advancements has contributed to its market recovery and heightened competition, particularly with Apple (AAPL.O), in China—the world’s largest smartphone market. In the third quarter of 2024, Huawei was ranked as China’s second-largest smartphone vendor, with deliveries surpassing 10 million units for the fourth consecutive quarter, according to research firm Canalys. This marks a remarkable recovery from the second quarter of 2022, when the company shipped just 4.1 million units.
The Mate 70 is the next version of the Mate 60 series, which was released in August last year and was seen as Huawei’s return to high-end smartphones.
Teardowns of both the Mate 60 and Pura 70 series, launched in April, revealed that they use advanced chips made by China’s SMIC. This shows that China is improving its semiconductor technology, even with the export restrictions from Western countries.
