Huawei Technologies teased a new smartphone powered by its home-grown mobile platform HarmonyOS Next, sparking a guessing game on the Chinese technology giant’s next move and sending related stocks higher.
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The company planned to unveil in March a handset with a “new form factor” as “the first [device] born out of the HarmonyOS Next ecosystem”, Richard Yu Chengdong, chairman of Huawei’s consumer business group, said in a video on Monday.
The new smartphone would present breakthroughs in hardware, software and the app ecosystem, Yu said. He added that Huawei’s HarmonyOS partners – including Tencent Holdings, ByteDance, Alibaba Group Holding and Meituan – were optimising their apps for the coming device. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.
Huawei, which is barred from accessing US-origin technologies under Washington’s trade sanctions, has been pushing for the adoption of HarmonyOS Next, the latest iteration of its self-developed platform that no longer supports Android apps.
Yu’s video has ignited speculation about Huawei’s next product. The handset could be a new type of foldable smartphone running on HarmonyOS Next, according to a report on Tuesday from news outlet China Star Market citing anonymous sources.
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