Huawei HarmonyOS 7 Launches with 2,000 AI Agents, Targets Apple's China Gap

On Friday, Huawei Technologies introduced HarmonyOS 7, a significant enhancement to its proprietary mobile operating system, signaling its shift into the 'agent era' and heightening rivalry with Apple's iOS 27. The updated platform boasts an 'agent-friendly' design and a greatly improved voice assistant that can comprehend context, recall previous interactions, and interface with over 2,000 specialized AI agents, according to Richard Yu Chengdong, chairman of Huawei's Consumer Business Group, during the annual developer conference. The enhanced assistant can autonomously execute intricate tasks, such as creating tailored marathon training regimens based on user health data and calendar events or locating and transmitting files from a connected laptop. Yu emphasized advancements in Huawei's agent framework, claiming a 90% success rate for complex tasks while easing AI skill development for developers. HarmonyOS 7 is currently available as a beta featuring AI coding agents and is anticipated to launch on Huawei's upcoming flagship smartphone later this year. This update follows Apple's recent Siri revamp in iOS 27; however, Apple's new AI functionalities are not accessible in mainland China due to regulatory limitations, presenting an opportunity for local tech firms like Huawei to draw users with their homegrown AI solutions.