Huawei prioritizes Android, won't roll out HarmonyOS-powered phone in 2019

Marking the first use of its own open-source operating system, Huawei, earlier this month, unveiled a new smart television with HarmonyOS in China.

Chinese smartphones and telecommunications giant Huawei said on Wednesday that the company has no plans to roll out a smartphone with its in-house operating system called HarmonyOS, aka Hongmeng OS, insisting that it wants to maintain a single ecosystem and stick with Google's Android platform.

"We want to maintain one standard, one ecosystem. HarmonyOS would serve as an option B for Huawei," CNET quoted Huawei Senior Vice President Vincent Yang as saying at a media event in New York. Yang said it was unlikely Huawei would launch a Harmony-powered phone, things could change if the ban is upheld.  "You never know," he further added.

The Chinese tech giant has previously said it gives priority to using Google's Android operating system and want to develop within its ecosystem, but, if in the future they lose access to Android system, they can immediately switch to their own operating system.

In an interview with the Sky News last week, Ren Zhengfei, Huawei CEO, said that it would take them some time to adapt the operating system to mobile phones and that they are waiting for the US government's decision whether it will allow Google to continue serving more people.

"We don't want to see another OS entry to the market because Apple and Google are still dominating the global market in terms of software systems. But if the US bars Google from keeping Android open, then a third OS will have to appear, and it may threaten the US's global dominance. It's possible that a small newcomer might have a stronger drive than the reigning champion, and if this newcomer comes out on top, the US may be in a tight spot," Ren said.

HarmonyOS was launched at the Huawei Developer Conference 2019 held in Songshan Lake, Dongguan, China from August 9th to 11th. Sharing the company's thoughts behind developing the new OS, Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei's Consumer Business Group, said during the launch: "To deliver a holistic intelligent experience across all devices and scenarios, we felt it was important to have an operating system with improved cross-platform capabilities. We needed an OS that supports all scenarios, that can be used across a broad range of devices and platforms, and that can meet consumer demand for low latency and strong security."

Marking the first use of its own open-source operating system, Huawei, earlier this month, unveiled a new smart television with HarmonyOS in China. The company also plans to expand HarmonyOS across a broader range of other smart devices like smartwatches, smart speakers, vehicles over the next three years.