In an interview with CNN, Huawei’s founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei expressed that Huawei can become the world’s number 1 smartphone brand even without relying on Google’s software and services.
He emphasized that proceeding without support from Google will just increase the time for reaching that goal. Notably, Huawei’s latest flagship Mate 30 series got launched without Google’s services a few months back.
Mr. Zhengfei made it clear that Huawei is willing to work with Google if there is a possibility. However, he hinted that the Chinese smartphone giant is working on a “large scale” backup plan.
In case you’re unaware, Zhengfei is possibly referring to Harmony OS, Huawei’s independent microkernel-based distributed operating system that will support Android apps.
He acknowledged that the US is still the most powerful country when it comes to innovation. In addition, he made a bold statement that no country including China can overtake the US in terms of innovation for “decades to come.”
Meanwhile, Zhengfei also said that the US trade ban situation will help the rise of competitors. “We will have to resort to alternatives. If those alternatives become mature, I think it’ll become less likely to switch back to previous versions,” he added.
It is worth noting that Huawei’s current US trade ban situation did not have an impact on its smartphone business. According to global research and advisory firm Gartner, Huawei is the only one of the top-five smartphone brands to achieve double-digit growth in smartphone sales in Q3 of 2019. The brand sold over 65 million smartphones in the third quarter of which 40.5 million units were sold in China.
So, will you consider buying a Huawei smartphone without Google’s software and services? Let us know in the comments.
