On the occasion of this year’s Huawei Developer Conference (HDC 2026), the Chinese tech giant unveiled HarmonyOS 7.0. This is the brand’s latest version of its operating system, currently available only in China.
It is worth noting that the OS is now independent from Android: initially the software had a hybrid phase, but with the arrival of HarmonyOS NEXT there was a complete separation, with a proprietary kernel and an independent ecosystem.
After this brief aside, let’s take a look at the new features announced during the event, culminating in the release of the first beta (developer-only).
With HarmonyOS 7.0, Huawei introduces a new space-age aesthetic that leverages three-dimensional rendering technologies to recreate on screen a realistic depth. The result is an immersive 3D effect, further refined thanks to the Immersive Light Sensing aesthetic.
This is a visual effect that simulates refraction and the depth of light on the interface, comparable to Apple’s Liquid Glass. The UI feels richer and more engaging visually, though the inspiration might raise eyebrows among those who don’t appreciate Cupertino’s solution.
According to Huawei, HarmonyOS 7.0 is the world’s first operating system to complete a native AI transformation. The OS does not merely add AI-related features but presents itself as a true evolution of the Harmony Intelligence architecture toward an agentic model, where the assistant XiaoYi becomes a kind of intelligent brain of the system.
The new incarnation of Huawei’s AI assistant does not stop at passively responding to commands, but understands the user’s intent, autonomously plans tasks, and coordinates system resources and apps.
The HMAF 2.0 framework is the new intelligent system that makes applications, AI, and the different devices in the HarmonyOS ecosystem talk to each other.
Through the A2A protocol, it enables multiple digital assistants to collaborate directly with each other to solve complex tasks, while with the A2UI protocol it allows developers to easily transmit an app’s graphics to different screens (such as smartwatches or tablets) with very little programming effort.
This ecosystem already offers a huge base of over 2,000 ready-to-use assistants, 300 advanced functions, and more than 20 free AI tools that anyone can use to create new applications.
The Xinghe Interconnect architecture has been enhanced to definitively break down barriers between different operating systems such as OpenHarmony, iOS and third-party platforms.
At the same time, AI-powered security is strengthened: the system can recognize in real time up to seven types of scams, with new capabilities for voice and video deepfake detection (and more).
HarmonyOS 7 brings a 15% performance improvement over the previous generation, while the <strongArk Engine engine introduces an AI model for performance. It manages system resources in a predictive and intelligent way: smoothness no longer depends on hardware, but on the system itself, able to understand what the user is doing and respond accordingly.
Finally, Huawei has introduced the Intimate Circle feature, designed to simplify connection and status sharing among family and close friends. By signing in with your Huawei account, you can create an exclusive shared space, with custom cards that aggregate shared data in real time.
The feature allows granular customization for each relationship: monitoring parents’ health, controlling kids’ screen time, sharing calendars with friends to organize meetups.
HarmonyOS 7 has entered the developer beta phase (closed, with 15,000 slots) starting June 12, with the first 7 compatible models:
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