Huawei unveils smartphone OS called Harmony as it prepares for a world without Google’s Android

Huawei Technologies has unveiled the name of its long-reported smartphone operating system despite reiterating that it would like to continue using Google’s Android OS if allowed to.

Richard Yu Chengdong, head of Huawei’s consumer business group, said on Friday the company’s Harmony OS was ready to install on its handsets if it loses access to Android under a US trade ban.

The tech world is eyeing Huawei’s developer conference this weekend as thousands of partners gather in the southern city of Dongguan, hopeful for a glimpse of the company’s future consumer business amid a US ban that threatens to cut off access to Google’s Android system for good.

Huawei, which holds its annual developer conference from August 9 to 11, is expected to first install the proprietary operating system on its Honor smart display products, the Post reported this week.

The launch will be closely watched by analysts after Huawei was put on a US trade blacklist in May that bans the company from buying American-made technology. With a 90-day reprieve set to run out, Huawei’s consumer business is under the spotlight as it loses access to critical US components, semiconductors and software, such as Google’s popular Android operating system, which powers the millions of smartphones that the Shenzhen-based company ships each year.

“My eyes are on Hongmeng [the Chinese name for Harmony] – will it be for phones rather than the internet of things, and can it run Android apps?” said Bryan Ma, vice president of client devices at research firm IDC. “It’s not easy to build up a base of developers unless they have a critical mass of users to cater to.”