HarmonyOS Broadens Device Reach and Ecosystem

Huawei listed the MatePad Pro Max on its site ahead of a June 1 on-sale date, with preorders having opened May 20. The 13.2-inch flagship tablet touts a 3K flexible OLED “cloud soft” display, HarmonyOS professional productivity features including dual desktops with a PC-like desktop, and up to a Kirin T93 Pro SoC. Models include “Enjoy,” standard, and soft-glow editions with RAM/storage ranging from 12GB/256GB to 20GB/1TB (some bundles include a keyboard); colors are Deep Space Gray and Moonlight Silver. Huawei highlights an ultra-thin 499 g, 4.7 mm design enabled by a new cloud-sparrow stacking architecture and reinforced beam structure for improved rigidity. The device will also debut the YinYuejia audio app.

Huawei announced HarmonyOS API26 and opened developer recruitments for experience officers from May 20 to August 31, 2026. Selected developers will get access to API26 assets—DevEco Studio, development and empowerment toolkits, emulator, AI-assisted features, and both open and closed APIs—and are expected to actively report issues and assist reproduction to improve developer experience. No further technical details about API26 have been released; Huawei's developer site still lists HarmonyOS 6.1.1 (24) Beta as the latest public build. The program signals Huawei’s continued investment in its OS ecosystem and aims to gather developer feedback ahead of broader rollouts. IT之家 will follow up with updates.

Huawei unveiled the MatePad Pro Max tablet at a HarmonyOS office products briefing, revealing for the first time that its top configuration will use the flagship Kirin T93 Pro chipset. The new ultra-thin large tablet increases motherboard stacking density by 15% and reduces stack thickness by 22% versus the 2025 MatePad Pro 13.2. Huawei confirmed dual-layout support—tablet and PC-style desktop—and said the PC desktop mode will run productivity apps such as Eastmoney, PixelCake, ZW CAD Personal, and CapCut Pro, hinting at expanded app versatility; wider support for PC versions of apps like WeChat and QQ would further boost its utility. The disclosure marks Huawei’s first public pairing of a flagship chip with its tablet line.

鸿蒙 PC 桌面首登平板？华为 MatePad Pro Max 旗舰新机更多细节曝光

Huawei unveiled its self-developed music-creation app YinYueJia at a HarmonyOS office products briefing, positioning the tablet app as a full mobile music studio that covers composing, recording, arranging and mixing. YinYueJia includes 200+ instrument and professional synthesizer sounds and claims “one tablet is a band.” Huawei says it collaborated with the Shanghai Conservatory of Music to faithfully recreate traditional Chinese instruments such as Tang-style vertical konghou and pear-necked pipa tones, aiming to support guofeng music preservation. The launch follows Huawei’s prior in-house pro app efforts like the Fangtian-powered drawing app for HarmonyOS tablets, underscoring Huawei’s push to build a native ecosystem of professional creative software.

Huawei announced IDC data showing its tablets led China market shipments for a second consecutive year (2024–2025) and that its Qingshi (擎云) cloud services surpassed 100,000 industry customers in 2025. At a HarmonyOS (鸿蒙) Office product briefing, Zhu Dongdong, president of Huawei’s Tablet & PC line, highlighted HarmonyOS Office’s integration across form, interaction and ecosystem: unified OS across devices, ARM-compatible chips and lightweight hardware; multimodal interaction including touch, handwriting, vision and AI agents; and convergence of desktop-grade productivity and mobile entertainment. Huawei emphasized an end-to-end self‑controllable stack covering processors, hardware, OS and cloud to reshape office experience and support industry transformation.

Huawei launched a special HUAWEI WATCH GT 6 “stylish green” gift box on May 20, priced at CNY 1,588 and including two random extra watch bands. The WATCH GT 6 comes in 41mm and 46mm sizes (41mm: 1.32-inch display, up to 14 days battery; 46mm: 1.47-inch display, 65% larger high-silicon stacked battery, up to 21 days). Features include AI fitness analysis, high-range IMU sensor for fall detection and emergency calling, Bluetooth accessories support, NFC payments via Alipay, car key, music, third-party apps, and the new Sunflower positioning system for improved tracking. The Pro model (46mm) upgrades materials (sapphire, titanium, ceramic) and matches the 21-day endurance and 3,000-nit peak brightness.

Huawei announced preorders for the new HUAWEI MatePad Pro Max, a flagship productivity tablet with preorders starting today at 16:08 and retail sales set for June 1. The MatePad Pro Max emphasizes thin design (4.7mm) and a ring-style camera module, and Huawei shows a magnetic keyboard accessory that appears to connect via physical pogo pins rather than the brand’s usual wireless methods. Notably, promotional materials reveal a PC-style desktop UI on the tablet, suggesting HarmonyOS’s PC desktop environment could appear on a tablet for the first time and possibly support PC-class apps—though Huawei has not confirmed app compatibility. The move aligns with Huawei’s goal to unify tablet and PC experiences under HarmonyOS.

Huawei-backed brand HarmonyOS Zhixing (鸿蒙智行) has scheduled the launch of its new AITO Wenjie (问界) M9 series for May 27 at 19:00. Richard Yu (Yu Chengdong), Huawei senior executive, said the new generation M9 will arrive with over 140 innovations. The M9 series opened presales on April 22 with two trims: a standard model from ¥499,800 and an Ultimate long-wheelbase from ¥669,800. HarmonyOS Zhixing reported cumulative pre-orders of more than 50,000 units as of mid-May, with over 40% opting for the Ultimate trim. The release matters for EV market competition and Huawei’s strategy integrating software (HarmonyOS) and automotive platforms.

Huawei reports that HarmonyOS 6.1.0 (build 23) now runs on 84.94% of devices tracked by its developer portal as of May 17, 2026, while legacy 5.x releases have almost disappeared from the installed base. The API usage breakdown shows 6.0.2 at 12.61% and small percentages for other 6.0.x builds; 5.1.1 is the largest 5.x entry at just 0.28%, and several 5.0.x builds register 0%. Huawei has already seeded HarmonyOS 6.1.1 (24) Beta1 with enhancements across Ability Kit, ArkUI, ArkTS, ArkWeb, Camera, Audio, FAST, and Performance Analysis Kits, plus new Content Embed and Enterprise Threat Protection Kits—signals that developers should prioritize 6.1 compatibility and can target newer security and enterprise features.

QQ's HarmonyOS (鸿蒙) app entered a limited test for version 9.2.23 (2978) via Huawei AppGallery from May 19–31, 2026, with invites sent by SMS. The update adds batch operations for Space albums, a visibility option for answer-to-question posts, @-mentions and cross-posting to Moments, new privacy controls (close-friend and one-way friend management), and an option to send messages with the Enter key. QQ’s HarmonyOS client launched in 2024 and the stable release is 9.2.20 with over 37.1 million installs; the platform supports chat, voice/video calls, Moments, short video, dual-device login and more. Tencent also released a HarmonyOS desktop QQ aligning with its QQ NT architecture.

China UnionPay and Huawei signed a strategic cooperation agreement on May 7 in Shenzhen, marking a deepening of collaboration that began in 2020. The partnership will target ICT infrastructure upgrades, AI innovation for financial services, terminal payment solutions, HarmonyOS (Hongmeng) ecosystem development, and international expansion. The two firms will optimize system security and operations, leverage Huawei Pay and cloud-network platforms to expand domestic and overseas payment services, and jointly publish a Self-Reliance Innovation Plan and an AI Action Plan to accelerate fintech intelligence. The deal signals tighter tech integration between a major payments network and a leading Chinese ICT vendor, with implications for payment security, smart services, and platform ecosystems.

The Wuling–Huawei joint SUV, Huajing S, officially launched and began deliveries in China with trade-in prices from ¥149,800 to ¥193,800. Built by SAIC-GM-Wuling with Huawei’s QianKun stack, the large six-seat SUV offers variants with CLTC electric ranges of 200–255 km (two‑wheel) and 235 km (four‑wheel), power from a 1.5T hybrid plus an electromagnetic DHT gearbox, and a top four‑wheel output of 386 kW/620 Nm (0–100 km/h in 5.2s). Key tech highlights include Huawei ADS Pro enhanced driving, Limera in‑cabin laser vision, HarmonyOS cockpit, EEA 4.0 central architecture with 5G and OTA, CATL cells, advanced safety structure and 3.5C fast charging. The model emphasizes integrated supplier ecosystem, active safety, and in‑car connectivity, signaling deeper Huawei automotive ambitions.