What did Huawei announce?
Huawei unveiled the Qinyun HM650 series on 5 November 2026 at its Qingyun 2026 HarmonyOS Office Industry Summit in Wuhan. It is the company's first desktop computer that runs HarmonyOS instead of Windows. Huawei first announced the machine on 29 July and said it would go on sale in October, according to the Chinese outlet ifeng. The launch slipped into November.
The HM650 is a commercial product, not a consumer one. Huawei is positioning it for government agencies and large enterprises that need managed devices, long support cycles and domestic supply chains. ITHome reports that the line will go on sale on 1 December 2026. Prices range from 6,899 yuan to 10,499 yuan depending on the processor, memory and storage configuration.
The headline claim is localisation. Huawei says the HM650 is the industry's first desktop to reach a 100% domestic component rate. The South China Morning Post reports that the claim covers parts from the processor to the memory modules. The company describes the machine as its first desktop built entirely from China-made components.
The launch extends HarmonyOS beyond phones, tablets and laptops. Huawei has sold more than one million HarmonyOS PCs as of October 2026, according to Zhu Dongdong, president of the company's tablet and PC product line. Zhu told reporters that the figure should reach 1.2 million by the end of the year, SCMP reports.
That is still a small number next to the wider PC market. Omdia expects China's PC shipments to total 36 million units in 2026, down 14% from a year earlier, according to figures published by TheElec. Huawei's entire HarmonyOS PC installed base is a fraction of one year's national shipments.
The timing nonetheless makes sense for a desktop. China's notebook shipments fell 19% in the first quarter of 2026, while desktop shipments rose 41%, Omdia found. Government and enterprise buyers are the most reliable customers for fixed workstations. A certified domestic desktop fits that demand better than another thin laptop.
What does 100% domestic actually mean?
Huawei's product page says the HM650's components were tested by Zhejiang Kezheng Electronic Information Product Inspection Co., a Chinese testing body. The company says the test found a 100% domestic component rate. Huawei calls the HM650 the industry's first desktop to complete that certification.
The certificate graphic on Huawei's page names five component groups: the chip, memory, hard drive, power supply and Wi-Fi module. Those are the parts a PC maker would normally buy from specialist suppliers, several of them outside China. Claiming all five as domestic is the substantive part of the announcement, because memory and wireless modules are rarely made by the company that sells the finished computer.
Zhu Dongdong explained how the company reached the figure. Huawei developed core components in-house, co-developed key parts with partners, and relied on large-scale production for general-purpose hardware. He said the result reflected collaboration across China's computer supply chain, according to SCMP, which cited a report by ITHome.
The certificate measures where parts are made. It does not measure who designed them, how well they perform or whether their supply chains are independent. SCMP notes that "the exact scope of the certification is unclear" and that Huawei did not respond to a request for comment. Huawei has not published a component-by-component breakdown.
That distinction matters for buyers and for policy. A memory module assembled in China can still depend on imported wafers, equipment or intellectual property. A domestic label does not prove that a factory can keep running if foreign tooling or materials are restricted. It shows only that the finished part was counted as Chinese under the certifier's rules.
The claim also says nothing about software. HarmonyOS is Huawei's own platform, but most business applications, developer tools and device drivers are written for Windows. Localising the hardware is the easier half of replacing a PC platform. Rebuilding the software ecosystem takes far longer.
What is inside the Qinyun HM650?
The desktop uses Huawei's Kirin X90 processor, designed by its HiSilicon chip unit. ITHome lists 8-core and 10-core versions. SCMP reports that the Kirin X90 first appeared in Huawei's consumer laptops and tablets in 2025, so the desktop chip is not a new design. It is an existing platform moved into a fixed chassis with more cooling and expansion room.
Huawei pairs the chip with HarmonyOS V1.0 in its enterprise edition. ITHome says the HM650 is the first device to ship this build. The enterprise version adds device management, role-based provisioning and a dual-space mode that separates internal and external networks. The last feature is aimed at finance, energy and telecoms customers with strict network rules.
Memory ranges from 16GB to 24GB. Storage starts with a 256GB SSD and reaches a 512GB SSD plus a 2TB hard drive. Some configurations include Wi-Fi and some do not. Huawei's own footnotes reference a 24GB version, while ITHome's price list confirms the 16GB and 24GB options.
Huawei's page lists HDMI, DisplayPort, USB-C, USB-A 3.2 Gen 1, Ethernet and an internal PCIe x1 slot. It also cites Wi-Fi 6+ and a self-developed Wi-Fi chip paired with a metamaterial antenna. The company says the chassis uses a dual-sided chip cooling design to keep the processor cool with less noise.
Huawei also advertises HyperSpace Memory, a compression feature. The company says it improves memory compression efficiency by 50% and increases the number of large files a machine can open by 40%. Those figures come from Huawei's own laboratory tests. They describe memory pressure rather than raw compute speed, so they do not substitute for benchmarks.
The AI features run through Celia, Huawei's assistant. Celia Work has four task tools and more than 2,300 callable skills, according to Huawei. The company says the assistant can gather information, tidy files and draft reports from a single instruction. Celia Deep Research, meeting transcription and note-taking are also included, ITHome reports.
Security is a major part of the pitch. Huawei says the Kirin X90 and HarmonyOS V1.0 both hold Level II certification under China's security and reliability evaluation. The desktop adds Star Shield 2.0, an agent sandbox that limits what AI tools can access, and chip-level disk encryption. Those certifications are aimed squarely at government procurement.
Support is part of the enterprise pitch. Huawei promises a three-year warranty, a 24-hour service line and access to more than 3,200 authorised service centres in over 300 Chinese cities. For a public-sector buyer, that network can matter as much as the chip, because a failed workstation needs a repair visit rather than a forum thread.
- •8-core Kirin X90, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD: 6,899 yuan
- •8-core, 16GB, 256GB SSD plus 1TB HDD: 7,099 yuan
- •10-core, 16GB, 512GB SSD: 7,199 yuan
- •10-core, 16GB, 512GB SSD with Wi-Fi: 7,399 yuan
- •10-core, 24GB, 512GB SSD plus 2TB HDD with Wi-Fi: 10,499 yuan
Why does a homegrown desktop matter under US sanctions?
Huawei's consumer PC business leaned on American silicon. SCMP reports that most Huawei consumer laptops used Intel Core processors before Washington tightened restrictions, while some used Qualcomm Snapdragon chips.
That supply chain closed in stages. In 2024, the US revoked special licences that had allowed Intel and Qualcomm to sell older-generation semiconductors to Huawei, according to SCMP. Without those licences, Huawei could not rely on those American processors for new business machines.
HarmonyOS began as an alternative to Android on smartphones. Moving it to desktops gives Huawei a stack it controls from the chip to the operating system. That control is the strategic point. US rules can restrict exports of American technology, but they cannot easily stop Huawei from shipping a machine built from Chinese parts and its own software.
The Level II certification is commercially important. SCMP reports that the Kirin X90's national security and reliability certification paved the way for wider adoption among government agencies and enterprise customers. Public buyers often need certified hardware before they can place large orders. The HM650 arrives with that paperwork already in place.
Scale is the counterweight. One million HarmonyOS PCs sounds substantial until it is set against a Chinese market of roughly 36 million units a year. Huawei is still challenging an incumbent platform. Its challenge is not proving that a domestic desktop can be built. It is convincing enough buyers to change their software and support arrangements.
How big is the market Huawei is targeting?
Omdia put China's PC shipments at 8.9 million units in the first quarter of 2026, down 2% year on year. Notebooks fell 19% to 5.3 million units, while desktops rose 41% to 3.6 million. The desktop segment is smaller, but it is the part of the market that is growing.
Huawei was the fastest-growing PC vendor in that quarter. Its shipments rose 38% to 1.4 million units, lifting its share from 11% to 16%, according to the Omdia data reported by TheElec. Lenovo remained first with 2.8 million units and 31% share. Apple, iSoftStone and HP followed with 9%, 8% and 7% respectively.
The research firm expects the wider market to shrink in 2026. It forecasts a 14% fall to 36 million PC units and an 11% fall to 32 million tablets. Omdia attributes the decline to rising component costs, reduced consumer subsidies and higher device prices. Memory and storage shortages are adding pressure across both categories.
That backdrop shapes the HM650's prospects. Government and enterprise buyers refresh desktops in bulk and often prioritise certification, manageability and support over thin-and-light design. Huawei can sell an expandable desktop with a three-year warranty and thousands of service centres without competing on consumer styling.
The weak point is software. Huawei says HarmonyOS PCs offer more than 21,000 apps, according to TechNode and Huawei Central. That is a meaningful library for web, office and communication tools. It is still far smaller than the Windows catalogue, and many industry-specific applications have no HarmonyOS version at all.
What is still unproven?
Price is now public, but performance is not. Huawei claims a 15% system performance gain from hardware-software co-ordination, according to ITHome. The company has not published detailed benchmarks, and no independent review of the Kirin X90 desktop had appeared at the time of writing. Buyers therefore have to trust Huawei's own figures.
The entry price of 6,899 yuan buys an 8-core chip, 16GB of memory and a 512GB SSD. The top configuration costs 10,499 yuan. Whether either is good value depends on workloads that have not been tested publicly. Office software may run well. Engineering, simulation and development tools are harder to judge without measurements.
The localisation claim also needs scrutiny. SCMP says the scope of the certification is unclear, and Huawei has not published a parts list. A buyer cannot independently verify where every component was made or how the certifier treated imported sub-components. The 100% figure is a useful marketing claim, but it is not a full supply-chain audit.
Availability is limited. ITHome reports that the HM650 and a related HM650g model are aimed at government and enterprise customers. Huawei has not announced a consumer version or a retail price for ordinary buyers. The December date covers the commercial launch, not a consumer retail release.
Peripheral support is another unknown. Huawei says HarmonyOS PCs work with keyboards, mice, printers and drawing tablets, but a compatibility list is not the same as guaranteed driver support for every model in a government office. Legacy scanners, card readers and specialist instruments remain common in the sectors Huawei is targeting.
Supply is another open question. China's memory and storage prices are rising, and Omdia says those costs are squeezing the whole market. A domestic supply chain does not insulate Huawei from those pressure points. If DRAM and NAND prices keep climbing, the HM650's pricing could come under pressure.
What to watch next
The first test is the 1 December sale date. Watch whether government departments and state-owned enterprises place bulk orders, and whether Huawei names any customers. Public procurement notices would show whether the Level II certification is converting into real demand rather than a press-release milestone.
The second is software. A rising app count would show that developers see HarmonyOS PCs as a durable platform rather than a niche. The 21,000 figure is the number to track. A stall would suggest that Huawei has built a credible box with an ecosystem that still cannot support mainstream office work.
The third is performance. Independent tests of the Kirin X90 in a desktop chassis will show whether the 15% claim holds under office, coding and data workloads. Reviews will also reveal how well HarmonyOS handles multi-monitor setups, peripherals and the kind of legacy software that public-sector IT departments still run.
The fourth is policy. US export rules have reshaped Huawei's PC business before, and any further tightening would matter. So would a Chinese procurement rule that explicitly favours domestic desktops. Either change could accelerate or complicate the HM650's rollout.
For now, the HM650 is a statement of intent. It shows that Huawei can assemble a desktop from Chinese parts, certify it for public procurement and ship it with its own operating system. It does not yet show that most Chinese offices will run on it. That verdict will come from purchase orders and software support, not from the launch event.