Upcoming Nokia X60 Series Will Run HarmonyOS, Sources Say

The Nokia X60 and X60 Pro are expected to be launched later this year, according to the Chinese Taiwanese media, and these two models are likely to be the first Nokia phones featuring the HarmonyOS. Nokia is also the first smartphone manufacturer that carries HarmonyOS aside from Huawei.

The move comes at a time when Nokia is looking to turn around its decline in mobile phones.

Nokia has been an established mobile phone manufacturer for a while, and was targeting Motorola in 1998 when it produced its 100 millionth cell phone, making it the world’s largest cell phone manufacturer.

However, as technology evolved, Nokia gradually lagged behind in cell phone design and eventually dropped out of favor with consumers.

One error the company made was stubbornly clinging to its outdated Symbian operating system. In 2009, Android phones had gained only 1.6% of the market share, yet by the end of 2013, the market share stood at about 80%, which far surpassed the growth of Nokia’s proprietary operating system. The Android platform eventually overtook Nokia’s Symbian operating system in the fourth quarter of 2010 and went on to become the largest smartphone platform in the world.

In August 2011, Nokia abandoned Symbian and then launched several smartphones with “Bella”, “Meego” and “Windows Phone” systems one after another. But consumers didn’t buy it. Nokia still releases new phones every year, but they don’t enjoy the same popularity as other cell phones makers. As a result, sales remain low.

The upcoming Nokia X60 features a curved screen, a 6000mAh battery, and a 200 million pixel main shot  camera

Now mobile phone brands such as Xiaomi, Samsung and Motorola have all launched flagship phones with 100 million pixel shot, and phones with over 100 million pixel shot. Should Nokia X60 be equipped with the HarmonyOS, it is expected to be a big seller in the Chinese market.

Netizens are looking forward to it, as one commentator wrote”finally a little interest is raised” while another was waiting to see what the price tag would be, “absolutely a big sale if the price is appropriate.” One other commentator went so far as to compare the phone and operating system as a “divine team”.

Earlier in the Huawei Developer Conference, there was a lot of excitement stirred up when Huawei officially unveiled its self-developed HarmonyOS. Pressured by U.S. sanctions, Huawei began transitioning to its own Internet of Things (IoT) platform, HarmonyOS, last year. Huawei expects that by the end of 2021, the number of smart devices running HarmonyOS will hit 300 million, including more than 200 million Huawei devices and the rest from third-party partners.

Earlier in June, BAIC Group announced that it would adopt HarmonyOS in the Arcfox Alpha S Huawei HI model and a new gasoline SUV.

SEE ALSO: BAIC Motor to Adopt Huawei’s HarmonyOS in New SUV Model

The timing is right for Huawei to license its cell phone operating system to Nokia. The shortage in the chip industry is bringing Huawei’s own smartphone business to a standstill, and the company looks to be trying to boost revenue through software licensing and moving away from solely depending on new hardware releases.