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Richard Yu, executive director of Huawei at the presentation of the HarmonyOS operating system in Dongguan, China, August 9, 2019. REUTERS / Huanqiu.com

Chinese telecoms giant Huawei on Friday (August 9th) introduced its new operating system for the group's smartphones, tablets, computers, TVs and connected devices, HarmonyOS, called HongMeng in Chinese. The announcement comes as Huawei, hit by US sanctions, may lose access to the Android system managed by Google.

To save his head in the global telephony market, Huawei had no choice, he had to find a substitute for the Android system for his phones. The Chinese firm is suspected of espionage by Washington and was placed on a "blacklist" last May. For US President Donald Trump, Beijing could use Huawei for spying purposes.

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US President Donald Trump signed a decree in May prohibiting US companies from using telecommunications equipment manufactured by companies that pose a risk to national security.

Donald Trump had granted a three-month break, until August 19, before the implementation of this "blacklist" of companies that are prohibited from selling US technology.

HarmonyOS in preparation since 2012

Several observers were surprised by the speed of this Huawei announcement. Originally, this replacement for Android was planned for spring 2020. But this project was not born following the upheavals of the trade dispute between Washington and Beijing. The group based in Shenzhen, southern China, has been working since 2012 on its own operating system for the Internet of Things. But its leaders have always denied wanting to replace Android on smartphones.

" If we can not use it anymore (Android), we'll be able to play all our apps on HarmonyOS, " said Richard Yu, on Friday, Aug. 9, at a group developer's conference in Dongguan, southern China. China. " We could do it immediately, but our priority is to continue to use the Android ecosystem ," he said, calling Google "a very good company ."

A modularized #HarmonyOS can be nested to flexibly to any device to create a seamless cross-device experience. Developed via the distributed capability kit, it builds the foundation of a shared ecosystem # HDC2019 pic.twitter.com/2TD9cgtdG8

Huawei Mobile (@HuaweiMobile) August 9, 2019

In close connection with relations between China and the United States

But Huawei's future also remains suspended in China-US trade tensions. Just last Wednesday, the United States banned several Chinese companies, including Huawei, from signing public contracts on its soil.

For director Richard Yu, without these commercial tensions, his group could have become the world's number one mobile phone. It remains today second, behind Samsung, but in front of Apple.

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