Although effectively sidelined in the West, Huawei has been making waves in its home turf of China with innovative new devices and features.
After upstaging Samsung with the world’s first triple-folding phone, it is now taking on Apple with its own spin on AirDrop. Huawei recently unveiled a file-sharing system that allows users to transfer images and other content between devices using hand movements without touching the screen.
In videos shared online, users are seen “grabbing” a pic on a phone by clasping their hand and then moving it to another device by releasing it.
Wait, no one told me Harmony OS Next was this fun!!! The world’s already moving forward like this? 😱 Huawei’s air drops are next level! #Huawei #HarmonyOSNEXT #AheadOfTheCurve #SoCrazy #chinatech #trendingnow pic.twitter.com/cnLozn2BqZ
— Chengdu China (@Chengdu_China) November 28, 2024
Is it wholly unnecessary? Yes, probably – especially as AirDrop (or Android’s QuickShare) already gets the job done seamlessly using a combination of WiFi and Bluetooth. Holding your iPhone next to your Mac to quickly share photos between the two still feels magical all these years later.
But, does Huawei’s new perk look impressive? Of course it does. When you’re accustomed to seeing the same iterative smartphone improvements to screens, batteries and processors trotted out every year, quirkier inventions like this can shake you awake.
Of course, those yearly refinements look amazing over lengthier stretches of time (compare the iPhone 16 to the iPhone X and you’ll really notice the difference). But nothing gets people talking like a barmy bit of tech. And, with hardware seemingly at its peak thanks to those yearly upgrades, software is where the true technological leaps now lie.
After all, what has everyone in tech been talking about for the past year? Why, Apple Intelligence, of course; a suite of artificial intelligence tools that can polish your emails and whip up harebrained emojis.
So, it is no surprise that Huawei is also using AI to power its gesticulative new feature, dubbed Air Gesture. The company’s chairman Richard Yu even described it as “AI teleportation”.
Air Gesture is reportedly available on Huawei’s recently launched Mate 70 series of smartphones, which run on the company’s house-brand chips and operating system (HarmonyOS).
Just don’t go rushing out to buy one as they’re relatively useless in the UK due to the crippling trade sanctions on the firm. Against the odds, the company has made its own advanced semiconductors, which many analysts claim surpassed what they thought was possible under the restrictions.
However, far more hampering is Huawei’s inability to access the Google Play Store, cutting Brits off from a whole host of popular apps. None of this matters in China, where a mix of local services and a patriotic fervour for homegrown tech has turned Huawei into the country’s second biggest phone brand behind Apple.
Of course, there’s nothing stopping Apple or Samsung from copying Huawei’s tech. Notably, you can already use hand gestures to trigger visual effects on FaceTime calls, filling the screen with hearts, balloons, confetti and fireworks with a thumbs up.
Meanwhile, Samsung lets you capture screenshots on Galaxy phones by swiping your palm across the display.
