Huawei draws large consumer brands to run HarmonyOS, but Android smartphone rivals keep their distance

Huawei has partnered with more than 1,000 hardware makers, 500,000 app developers and more than 300 service providers to support HarmonyOS 2

Smartphone brand Honor, a former subsidiary of Huawei, is keeping its options open on the new mobile operating system

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Huawei Technologies Co expects up to 300 million devices will run its HarmonyOS 2 mobile platform this year. Photo: Reuters

Published: 6:22pm, 3 Jun 2021Updated: 1:51pm, 4 Jun 2021

Huawei Technologies Co’s opening salvo for its HarmonyOS mobile platform to go mainstream, helping the telecommunications giant overcome US trade sanctions, has drawn thousands of partners, but also delivered a stiff reality check – none of its major Chinese Android smartphone rivals are on board.

Huawei faces an uphill battle to convince other smartphone makers to change from Android to HarmonyOS over difficulties of “user conversion, compatibility issues and political risks”, which few vendors are willing to face, according to Chiew Le Xuan, an analyst at technology market research firm Canalys.

At the online launch of HarmonyOS 2 on Wednesday, Richard Yu Chengdong, the chief executive of Huawei’s consumer business group, said the company has partnered with more than 1,000 hardware makers, 500,000 app developers and more than 300 service providers, enabling the company’s mobile operating system to run on more smart devices than those on Google’s Android.