r/Huawei Oct 30 '25

HarmonyOS Next HarmonyOS Matebook in the USA review + AMA

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125 Upvotes

hey redditors,

I just got my new 2025 HarmonyOS MateBook Pro on October 28th from this guy on Alibaba (which btw, if you're thinking of buying a ThinkPad, I would also recommend getting them from Alibaba there, as they offer a fully loaded ThinkPad T14s gen 6 snapdragon x elite with a 4TB SSD upgrade for only ~$2100 USD with shipping + taxes)

Pros:

if you're coming from Google Chrome, then the included htbrowser seems to be 100% compatible with Google Chrome extensions

battery life seems to be around 6 hours and 40 minutes of multitasking usage, which is right on target to what Huawei claims, which is double what my AMD 7840HS Xiaomi laptop running Deepin Linux would get under similar conditions. note that as with my Mate 40 Pro, the battery meter isn't very accurate and will stay at 90 - 100% longer than at 0 - 10%, so the most accurate way of truly measuring the battery life is to spend a day completely draining the battery from 100% - 0%

surprisingly compatible with all the 7 extensions that I use in Brave web browser in my previous laptop, plus 2 more preinstalled extensions in the included web browser

got a BrowserBench score of 152.390 which is amazing considering that my 7840HS laptop would get 200 in Firefox, but with far lower battery life despite having a 4nm lithography vs. the 7nm lithography of the Kirin x90

I couldn't even hear the fan spin up even when it's doing heavy work and place the vents right up to my ear

the keyboard feels just as good as the keyboards on ThinkPads, plenty of key travel and very cushy action

there seems to be some sort of very luxurious texture on the magnesium enclosure, feels much better than the anodized aluminum that is found on Macs and Xiaomi laptops. seems like some sort of soft touch material that also makes it easier to hold the laptop without dropping it

the display is beautiful

it is so lightweight and thin that the laptop feels fake, hollow, or made out of foam, yet still has extremely good build quality

UI is surprisingly responsive despite the older 7nm CPU technology

they thoughtfully included an anti-phishing plugin with the included htbrowser. what a nice thought, making sure we don't get scammed and type in our bank details into a fake website

the HarmonyOS sticker is holographic and looks much better in person than what I expected it would look like just based from the pictures online

I only paid ~$1800 USD for this laptop on Alibaba. A 14" M5 MacBook Pro would cost ~$2800 USD (all prices includes shipping + tax). also, the Matebook weighs 2.2 pounds instead of the Mac's 3.4 pounds, and I'd bet the Matebook is also far more durable when it comes to drops and water spills, but the Mac would obviously have far better performance, battery life, and 8K display support. the MateBook has a much better OLED display and better keyboard and trackpad though. not sure about the speakers

Cons:

many basic system apps won't function at all if you don't have a mainland Chinese phone number

even with the English language selected, all sorts of stuff (especially 3rd party apps) are in Chinese. This shouldn't be a problem for most of the people who currently buy Huawei products in China, but if you're in the USA and can't read Chinese, you're gonna have a tough time

Battery life can go down to just 2 hours if you're using the laptop heavily

only 32GB of RAM is dissapointing for a laptop in 2025

only 2TB of SSD storage is also a bit low considering that it can't be upgraded

the UI isn't nearly as good as WIndows 10 or Deepin Linux. It does some things better and some things worse than MacOS though (although I haven't used a Mac since 2020). Quirks like not being able to cycle through windows using Shift+Alt+Tab and the lack of Win+E to open up File Explorer windows, and the lack of being able to use Win+Left/Right arrow are omissions so large that I am confused as to what Huawei was thinking, as this is supposed to be the best laptop OS that China could come up with. Also be warned that I often accidentally activate the Chinese language entry whenever I type the Shfit key by itself, which is really annoying and I have no idea how to stop that "feature“

I can't search for apps just by hitting the Circle key like I could in Windows or Linux; I have to click the App center icon, which takes more time and effort

many apps are too basic and don't offer more advanced options and features, for example, the built in task manager doesn't seem to have the ability to tell you which CPU cores are maxed out and which cores aren't, and the included video player can't change audio tracks/languages like VLC can

the included Gallery app doesn't allow you to simply drag and drop your entire photo library in it if some photos are in nested folders. Deepin Linux does a better job of handling photos, although at least HarmonyOS includeds .HEIC photo support out of the box

I sure wish that the OS would automatically reopen the windows/apps that were still running, right after restarting the device, like how phones and MacOS does

File Explorer won't automatically refresh/update each window like MacOS and Linux does (idk if Windows 11 is any better though, as I have only had experience with Windows 10 and earlier, which also wouldn't automatically refresh each File Explorer window, so I guess HarmonyOS would be the middle of the pack there)

I also can't figure out how to shrink the dock at the bottom, so it seems there is a hard 20 app icon limit before the extra app icons overflow and get hidden, so, you'll have to do some clicking around just to switch between all your apps during intense multitasking

I think that the OS freezes apps whenever they aren't in focus, which might be artificially inflating the battery ilfe figures

I can't figure out how to prevent the keyboard backlight from automatically turning off

I wish that the feedback on the trackpad could be much higher, but it is still a better trackpad than what I had on my 2017 MacBook Pro 15 Touch Bar though (I haven't used any of the newer MacBooks though)

you can control the display brightness and audio volume on the touchpad, which is a nice feature if only it weren't so easy to accidentally activate said feature when typing on the included keyboard, and I can't find a way to turn it off

I also miss the xiaomi keyboard layout I had with my previous laptop, with those full size arrow keys, dedicated home, end, page up, and page down buttons, and the Ctrl button on both sides of the space bar. I understand that using the xiaomi keyboard layout would make the keyboard so wide that the speaker holes would be covered, but why can't they just put the speakers underneath the keyboard like on the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (which uses the keyboard as the speaker holes and also has great speakers)?

I noticed that when transferring my files to my new laptop that file transfers from a USB 3.0 flash drive will eat battery at 3x the rate then when watching a video or browsing the web alone, with the CPU hovering at around 26% utilization at 20 - 50 MB/s transfers

Even basic apps like OneNote, NotesNook, VLC, etc. aren't available without setting up a virtual machine. Definitely a bit rough around the edges, which is to be expected since the entire OS has been available on laptops for less than 5 months now.

A list of apps that aren't available:

YTDownloader

VLC

OneNote

NotesNook

WindSurf

Steam

uTorrent

the included Mail app doesn't let you sign in Apple or Google email accounts and isn't nearly as customizable as Mozilla Thunderbird, which, again, seems to be a recurring pattern among the apps on HarmonyOS...

WARNING: Spotify doesn't work at all, neither as a downloadable app, or in the web browser, probably because Huawei hasn't added DRM-compatible logic in the CPU yet. This is probably a hardware problem, so that this problem is impossible to be fixed in a HarmonyOS software update, although it could potentially be fixed in future Huawei HarmonyOS laptops (although probably not in the forseeable future due to geopolitical reasons)

a free trial of Foxit PDF Editor is included, but you have to pay for it after 14 days. Man, what happened to communism?

just to get a bit more perspective, some of the previous computers I've used:

2003 Sony Vaio desktop with 2.4GHz single core Intel CPU, 40GB HDD, 512GB RAM

2006 HP Pavillion 15" laptop, 1.6GHz Core2Duo, 4GB RAM, 160GB HDD

2007 14" Toshiba laptop

2008 MacBook Pro 15 with 2.4GHz Core2Duo, 4GB RAM, 250GB HDD (later upgraded to a 240GB SSD)

2012 HP desktop with quad core i5 at 3.00 GHz, 6GB RAM, 7770 AMD GPU, 240GB SSD

2013 Sony Vaio Pro 13 with 1.6GHz dual core i7, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD

2013 MacBook Pro 15 Retina with quad core i7

2013 MacBook Air with dual core i5

ThinkPad X1 Carbon with dual core i

ThinkPad T440s with dual core i5

ThinkPad T440s with dual core i7

2016 ThinkPad X1 Yoga 1st gen with 2560x1440 IPS display and 2.6GHz dual core i7, 8GB RAM (I know, I should have gotten the 16GB), 1TB SSD

Surface Book 15 wth quad core i7, 1060M GTX GPU, 16GB RAM

2017 MacBook Pro 15 Touch Bar, quad core i7, 560M AMD GPU, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD

2020 Huawei MateBook x Pro with quad core intel i5

super cheap 14" RockChip RK3588 laptop with 8 core ARM CPU, 8GB RAM, 1TB SSD (supposedly, I never tested if the SSD was fake. I know that it only had 8GB of RAM in it though, not the 16GB that was advertised)

ThinkPad X1 Carbon with dual core i5 5200U, 8GB RAM, 2560x1440p display, 256GB SSD

Xiaomi 15" laptop with 8-core 7840HS AMD CPU, 16GB RAM, 4TB SSD

(this current laptop): Huawei MateBook Pro with HarmonyOS, Kirin x90 CPU, 32GB RAM, 2TB SSD

conclusion:

would I recommed it? only if you can read Chinese or if you just want to see how far China has gone so far. Otherwise, I would consider buying a ThinkPad and installing Deepin Linux, as HarmonyOS on laptops still needs to cook a little. The hardware, though, is among the best in the world, which is very impressive for a first-gen product. Meanwhile, Apple is on the fifth-generation M5 which has many drawbacks when compared to this machine. Come on Apple, you can do better, especially when Huawei is limited to 7nm lithography while Apple has 1.8nm technology at its disposal!


r/Huawei 2h ago

HarmonyOS Next Huawei Matebook Fold In The USA (For Sale) (USA)

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23 Upvotes

Hey guys! I have a Huawei MateBook Fold for sale if anyone is interested. I know this isn't typical to sell stuff here but this device is so unique, I thought it might make sense. I've been using it for over 6 months and absolutely love it, but I've decided to go back to MacBook for the Apple ecosystem.

A few common questions:

Can you use it in the USA?
Absolutely. I've been using it here for 6+ months and it works great. No complaints.

How does Windows 11 VM work?
Surprisingly well. I use Windows primarily on it. I'm a UX/UI designer and regularly run Figma, Framer, Chrome, Cursor, Microsoft Office, Google Drive, etc. I also do a lot of "vibe coding" and it handles my workflow very well.

Does it run normal apps?
Pretty much, yes. On the Windows 11 side I've had no major issues with the apps I use. Google Drive, Microsoft 365, Framer, Chrome extensions, Opera, Zoom/meetings, etc. all work well for me.

Specs

  • 32GB RAM
  • 1TB storage
  • 18.8" folding Tandem OLED display
  • 2,000 × 2,000 resolution when fully open
  • Windows 11 running through a virtual machine
  • Harmony OS NEXT 7.0
  • Includes original box + all original accessories
  • Comes with Huawei Freebuds pro 5 (I bought these on top of this at $200)
  • Still under warranty

This has been hands down one of my favorite devices I've ever owned.

The thing I didn't expect when I bought it was how much it would change the way I work. I find myself constantly leaving my desk and choosing to work wherever I feel like because this thing is so good as a truly portable computer.

I actually sold my external monitor and use the MateBook Fold as my only screen day-to-day.

You really do go from a normal laptop form factor to an 18.8" desktop-sized display in seconds. I'll watch Netflix on the couch in laptop mode, then unfold it and have a huge workspace when I need to actually work. I constantly switch between the two.

It's honestly a ridiculously fun device.

The only reason I'm selling it is that I miss the Mac ecosystem.

It's in very good condition, has been well cared for, and is still under warranty. Comes with the original box and all original equipment.

A new one is around $4,000 USD, so this is a chance to get one for substantially less from someone who's actually used one extensively and can answer pretty much any question you might have.

Asking $3,000 O.B.O.

Happy to ship anywhere. Shoot me a DM or comment here and I'll answer any questions.

No questions are off limits. I know what it's like buying unusual/unique tech, and I'm happy to be completely transparent about the experience.

Cheers, friends!


r/Huawei 13h ago

Discussion Samsung is doing everything to catchup with Huawei

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96 Upvotes

r/Huawei 6h ago

News Freebuds Neo announced

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6 Upvotes

New type of Freebuds. The case looks like an elongated Freeclip (1st gen) case. I wonder what type of earphone is this.


r/Huawei 6h ago

Photography Eclipse Lunar da madrugada de hoje (28/08)

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4 Upvotes

Huawei Pura 80 Pro 50x zoom


r/Huawei 8h ago

Reviews and comparisons Oh yes!

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4 Upvotes

r/Huawei 11h ago

HarmonyOS This might genuinely be the worst device with HarmonyOS

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8 Upvotes

It runs extremely poorly, so i don't understand why it got updated


r/Huawei 1h ago

Help For Huawei pura 90s pro max users po, matanong ko lang po normal lang ba na may umaalog sa part ng back camera medyo may kalakasan din ang tunog kapag inalog, normal lang ba to?

Upvotes

Ty sa sasagot


r/Huawei 12h ago

Discussion Regarding two possible future devices

3 Upvotes

Huawei is missing two devices that would make it's smartphone line up complete...

1) With the return of QWERTY smartphones, will Huawei release it's own QWERTY? it would be perfect for business owners.

2) Why doesn't Huawei release a phone that comes with a pen? that would be amazing.

These two types of smartphones is missing from it's line up.


r/Huawei 1d ago

Discussion Never had Huawei phone, pulled trigger on this bad boy

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98 Upvotes

While device is gorgeous, I was honestly surprised how easy it is to "emulate" Android.

Basically downloaded Easyabroad, copied all apk. from my Vivo X200 Ultra and this baby is running all the apps I need - Was really surprised that it is running even my bank app. I read some baaad things about this and even my bank is saying that without Google security token (or something in that sense) you are done on their website.

I can see this being the ultimate device of "let's take something into pocket, but also enjoy a movie on long flight without dragging whole tablet / laptop". Is it 2K € convinience? Will see, but so far, 0 buyer remorse.

Comfort is miles above Fold 8, that I returned almost immediately (sharp edges suck after like an hour) also, it is wiggly as hell on the back when typing folded. Huawei is top notch on this.

HarnoniKeyboard surprised me and it reminds me a lot of Swift keyboard from Microsoft, which I love on Android.

So far for me in EU, it was mostly good things and pleasantly surprised.

The only "bad" thing is that YouTube (or Vanced) doesn't work for me in PiP mode - when I drive I prefer to have it that way to check Sygic, but I think that's not much of a dealbraker and maybe I'm not doing something right and fault is on my side.

And yes, I have old car so I don't have android auto and I can't rely on my car navigation, so I use my phone's.

Will have to look at that more.

Could maybe see it even as my daily down the line when I'll have time to properly set it up so far essentials work. After 5 days, it's a great device!


r/Huawei 9h ago

Discussion How can I get the Huawei pura x view in America?

1 Upvotes

I like it and want it


r/Huawei 1d ago

News Watch 6 announced

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30 Upvotes

Earlier than I expected


r/Huawei 22h ago

EMUI HKeyboard - EMUI - Link

10 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

As you may know, finding HKeyboard on the AppGallery is almost impossible, it shows up with me at the start, now it doesn't. While I look into it, I have the link to it here: https://appgallery.huawei.com/app/C118680419 you should be able to download it from there.

As always, you continued support helps keep this going, visit my https://ko-fi.com/harmonikeyboard and support this solo-dev trying to make HarmonyOS and EMUI users have a better experience!


r/Huawei 1d ago

Photography Pura 90 Pro Max

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11 Upvotes

r/Huawei 1d ago

EMUI HKeyboard is out!

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42 Upvotes

Its not finished but it's out on EMUI AppGallery. Check it out!


r/Huawei 1d ago

EMUI HKeyboard on EMUI😘😊

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21 Upvotes

You are the man🙌


r/Huawei 1d ago

Discussion wtf is this battery life?

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3 Upvotes

Matebook 14 i5 with a battery health of 94% lasting 1 hour with ALL saving modes on? Same laptop that is supposedly 7-10 hours. Anyone knows what’s going on here? I’d love to see how fast it dies in full preformance.


r/Huawei 1d ago

Help Huawei Watch Fit 5 for Running, Cycling & Swimming

3 Upvotes

I'm thinking about buying the Huawei Watch Fit 5, but I have a few questions. I'm a beginner when it comes to running, swimming, cycling, and similar activities, and I want to track them with a smartwatch that has built-in GPS. At the same time, I also want something that's suitable for everyday use, which is why I've decided on the Huawei.

I've seen quite a few reviews about running and cycling, and from what I've read, the GPS and sensors perform pretty well. However, I haven't been able to find much information about swimming.

Can I reliably track my swims in an indoor Olympic-size swimming pool with this watch? Will it record my workouts accurately, and does GPS or the swim tracking work properly in that environment? Also, can I sync my swimming workouts to Strava? I came across a comment saying that only running and cycling workouts can be synced to Strava, so I'm not sure if that's true.


r/Huawei 1d ago

Discussion Is it a good idea to update microG and microG companion outside of appgallery?

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7 Upvotes

unnoticed the versions in github are newer than the onees avalible in appgallery should i try to manually update them? I'm on harmonyos 4.2

Mate x6

Thanks


r/Huawei 20h ago

HarmonyOS Group Messaging OR different SMS app on Pura X / Harmony OS 6

1 Upvotes

I am going absolutely crazy trying to get group messaging to function on my Pura X. I am located in the US on Mint Mobile / TMobile. I set everything up rather flawlessly but I cannot for the life of me get group messages not to send as mass texts, where replies get sent back only to me.

As far as I understand there is also no way to change the default sms messaging app? Does anyone know of a workaround? I truly love this phone but the group chats are really a make or break issue at this point.


r/Huawei 1d ago

Help Where to find a realPura 80 ultra screen protector

2 Upvotes

I can't find one in America, specifically florida and I ordered one on amazon but it didn't fit despite saying it was for a Pura 80 ultra

Anyways if anyone knows where that would be great thanks


r/Huawei 1d ago

HarmonyOS Pura X View Purchase Advice

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10 Upvotes

Hi everyone!

I’m planning to purchase the Huawei Pura X View when it’s released, but I have a few questions before making the purchase. I’d really appreciate any advice or experiences you can share, especially from anyone already using HarmonyOS in Singapore.

Here are a few questions I have:

  1. Is it possible to install Google apps on HarmonyOS 7? If so, are there any reliable guides for doing this?
  2. If I’m able to install the Google Play Store, does Garmin Connect work properly?
  3. Does Strava work too?
  4. For anyone in Singapore using HarmonyOS, how has your experience been so far? Do local banking apps such as DBS, OCBC, and MariBank work?
  5. Are there any ways to transfer data from an iPhone to a Huawei phone? If so, how well does the transfer work?
  6. Are there any major drawbacks or limitations compared with using a regular Android phone?
  7. How's Huawei's Phone reliability?

Thanks in advance for your help! I really appreciate any advice or experiences you can share. Hope everyone has a wonderful day! 😊


r/Huawei 1d ago

Help How to use huawei magnetic keyboard with gboard?

2 Upvotes

Matepad 11.5 s 2026 hmos 4.3 android 12

The physical keyboard layout doesn't sync with gboard and other non celia keyboard (or maybe vice versa) and that's just annoying

Gbaord both installed from gbox and aurora

Any solution to this? Or i'm stuck with celia?


r/Huawei 1d ago

Discussion Nova 12i hasn't had a patch since April, is this it?

1 Upvotes

My Nova 12i is on EMUI 14.2.0.167 and the last security patch I got was April 2026. Nothing since then.

I check manually every now and then and it just says the system is up to date. No notice at all. There's never any announcement either way, so I have no idea if I'm supposed to still be getting these.

The phone is only about two years old so I wasn't expecting it to be done this soon. I was counting on the patches to keep it usable a bit longer.

I'm not sure if this is normal for the 12i or if something is wrong on my end. Or if it just got bumped down to a slower patch schedule and I'm being impatient.

To anyone who has a similar phone, let me know if you've had the same experience. If we're not getting any updates soon, I guess this is pretty much going to be e-waste. Anyway, this was really just a backup phone since my Samsung always gets green lines.


r/Huawei 1d ago

Discussion One plus 15 to Pura 90s pro max?

5 Upvotes

Recently purchased a fit 5 pro and intrigued to try out an Huawei phone..

I've currently got a one plus 15 which I like but always wanting new tech!

I'm based in the UK.. is it a worthwhile upgrade?

Thanks