As Huawei prepares to launch its first HarmonyOS phone, deep down it wants something else

As Huawei prepares to launch its first HarmonyOS phone, deep down it wants something else

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According to Yahoo, although Huawei has just launched the first device powered by its Android replacement, called HarmonyOS (the foldable Mate X2), the beleaguered Chinese manufacturer is not ready to forget Android. Since the Trump administration put Huawei on the list of entities in 2019, the company has not been allowed to purchase hardware, software and components from U.S. suppliers, including Google, without a license.

Huawei hopes to get the green light to use Google software again

Huawei USA security director Tom Purdy says the company eventually wants to license the version of Android for Google’s mobile services, which includes the Google Play Store and other apps like YouTube, Search, Gmail, Google Chrome and Google Maps . Although Google’s top Android apps were banned in China, they were allowed on the company’s international models. Purdy, from Huawei USA, says: “It has been a very difficult fight. But we are taking a long-term approach and it is helping us to prioritize which products are most important, which components we have.” Last year, the United States Department of Commerce made things even worse for Huawei by changing an export rule that now prevents foundries from sending chips to Huawei made with American technology. As a result, the company had to watch its inventory levels very carefully, as it can no longer order the leading contract foundry TSMC to ship more next-generation 5-nm Huawei Kirin 9000 chipsets.

At the beginning of last year, Huawei left Samsung to soon become the world’s largest smartphone maker. That was a goal the company had been aiming for since 2016. But in the fourth quarter of last year, shipments fell 42% on an annual basis, leaving the company behind Samsung, Apple and Xiaomi. This year, Huawei divested its Honor sub-brand for $ 15 billion, a move made to lift Honor out of American bans. As a result, this year some analysts expect Huawei to fall to seventh place on the smartphone leaderboards, with Honor right behind, in eighth place. It is a long fall for Huawei, accused of having close ties to the Chinese communist government. As a result, it has become a threat to national security in the United States. It will be up to the new Biden government to reverse the damage that the previous government has caused. At the moment, there seems to be no interest on President Biden’s part in doing anything about it, although, to be fair, he has some more pressing issues, including the coronavirus. For Huawei, such a move could be vital to its future. “The sooner we can make the decision to go back to Google, the better,” said Purdy.

Huawei says it expects Biden to improve the relationship between the U.S. and China. Ren says Huawei is interested in buying equipment from US companies once again and says that allowing it would be beneficial for both countries. This is certainly true when you consider that in the last full year that Huawei had unrestricted access to its supply chain in the United States, the company spent $ 18 billion that went into the pockets of US corporations. Ironically, Huawei was not the only company hurt by its placement on the list of entities. The story not told here is that many US tech companies lost business due to the previous government’s decision.

Ren says: “We hope that the new United States administration will have an open policy for the benefit of American companies and the economic development of the United States. We still hope to be able to purchase large volumes of American materials, components and equipment so that we can all benefit. of China’s growth. “The executive also said last week that Huawei has 1 billion active smartphones. The goal will be to follow Apple’s game plan and sell services with recurring subscription fees.

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