The Rise of Chinese ARM Chips in the OpenHarmony Ecosystem
Introduction to OpenHarmony
OpenHarmony is an open-source operating system launched by Huawei, designed to function across multiple devices including smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, and smart home products. As a homegrown Chinese open-source IoT system, its ecological development carries significant importance in the current technological landscape. The OpenHarmony ecosystem has seen rapid growth, with devices running this system quickly penetrating China’s IoT market.
While RISC-V architecture is developing rapidly, its high-performance products remain relatively scarce and widespread adoption is still progressing. ARM architecture, after years of development, is currently the only chip architecture that dominates mobile platforms and has the capability to challenge x86 desktop and server platforms. This article focuses on Chinese ARM architecture SoCs that have been adapted for OpenHarmony, providing reference information for project planning and selection.
Current State of OpenHarmony-Compatible ARM Chips
Several major Chinese chip manufacturers have developed ARM architecture SoCs compatible with OpenHarmony. Based on publicly available information, these include:
– **Rockchip**
– **Amlogic**
– **Allwinner**
– **UNISOC**
– **MediaTek**
Detailed Analysis of Compatible Chipsets
Rockchip
Rockchip has long been focused on the industrial customization market and was among the earliest chip design manufacturers in China to specialize in general-purpose industry chips. Consequently, multiple Rockchip chips have been adapted for the OpenHarmony operating system:
1. **RK3568** – The first third-party chip to adapt to OpenHarmony’s standard system. Many OpenHarmony standard system boards on the market are based on RK3568 development. This chipset features:
– Quad-core ARM Cortex-A55 processor
– Mali G52 2EE graphics processor
– 4K decoding and 1080P encoding capabilities
– Support for various peripheral interfaces (SATA/PCIe/USB3.0)
– Built-in independent NPU (0.8 TOPs)
– Available in commercial, industrial, and automotive-grade versions
– 2.0 GHz clock speed
– CPU Mark: 1,193 (multithreading) and 562 (single-thread)
2. **RV1126/RV1109** – Applied in machine vision domains, featuring built-in ISP and independent NPU, widely used in facial recognition, video encoding, and video analysis.
3. **RK3588** – A flagship 8K series chip with powerful performance and rich expansion interfaces, currently the most cost-effective 8K application chip.
4. Other adapted models include:
– **PX30** – Targeted at automotive electronics
– **RK3399** and **RK3288** – Open-source platforms
– **RK3399Pro** – The first chip to integrate an independent NPU
– **RK3566** – For consumer electronics devices
– **RK2206** – For smart home applications
Amlogic
Amlogic focuses on the home audio and video market with excellent image engine technology. Currently, the following models support OpenHarmony:
1. **A311D** – Features built-in independent NPU, primarily for commercial display markets
2. **S905D3** – Also includes an independent NPU, targeting commercial display markets
3. **A213Y** – Adapted for OpenHarmony
Allwinner
Allwinner is a veteran chip design company that saw extremely high shipment volumes in the tablet era. Their A10 chip was among the earliest SoCs used in Android mini PCs. Allwinner was also an early entrant into the industrial applications market. Current OpenHarmony-compatible chips include:
1. **R11** and **R818** – Targeting IoT applications
2. **T507** – For automotive electronics platforms
3. **T113** – For automotive electronics and industrial applications
4. **A133** – For tablet computers
Allwinner chips emphasize low-cost advantages, making them suitable for products requiring large-scale deployment.
UNISOC
UNISOC is the restructured company following the merger of Tsinghua Unigroup and Spreadtrum. With technical expertise in baseband chips, their SoC products are also known for high cost-effectiveness. Models adapted for OpenHarmony include:
1. **SL8541E/SL8581E** – Financial payment (facial recognition) solutions
2. **T310/T618** – Tiger series processors
3. **UIS8910DM** – Ivy series processor
4. **UIS7862S**
MediaTek
MediaTek’s **MT6739** has also been adapted for the OpenHarmony operating system.
Advantages of OpenHarmony in Industry Applications
OpenHarmony offers several notable advantages in industry applications:
1. **Universality** – As an IoT-oriented operating system, OpenHarmony is a general-purpose system adaptable to various devices, including hardware from different manufacturers. This enables application across multiple industry domains such as smart homes, smart manufacturing, and intelligent transportation.
2. **Security** – OpenHarmony employs a microkernel architecture with high security. Core functional modules are isolated, reducing system vulnerability to attacks. Additionally, it provides security mechanisms and services to ensure system security.
3. **Multi-device Collaboration** – Supports seamless connection and data sharing between devices, enabling full-scenario collaboration in smart homes, smart manufacturing, and other industrial domains.
4. **Development Convenience** – Adopts unified development frameworks and tools, simplifying development and deployment while reducing development difficulty and costs.
Future Outlook
As an open-source system, OpenHarmony has an active community with many developers engaged in related development work. In commercial projects, OpenHarmony is considered a value-added feature, recognized as reliable and secure. While its ecosystem is still developing, it can already completely satisfy specific business scenario requirements for industrial applications.
More Chinese-made SoCs are expected to support the OpenHarmony system in the future, creating a fully domestic software and hardware integrated ecosystem.
